Eyes of a Sellsword: Path of Radiance
by Truth and Temper
Summary: A young traveling mercenary encounters the Greil Mercenaries around the time of the Mad King's War! What will he encounter? What will become of him? *Discontinued*
1. Chapter 1: Bandits and Trouble Makers

**(A/N): **Sup everyone? This is my first story, just seeing if I'd enjoy writing my story based around Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and then Radiant Dawn, with an OC who pretty much matches my personality and looks and such.

How often will I be updating this story? Hopefully often, but I don't have much time to myself after work and class. So I guess you'll have to be patient. :D

I'd like to thank **cazcappy** for being my main fanfiction buddy. Check his story out if you haven't already! Hope my story will be at least half as decent as every other FE9-FE10 story I've read, haha.

Well, here we go! Strap yourselves in, this will be….something, to say the least!

_Italics: Thoughts!_

**Bold: POV's**

I own nothing but the OC! If I owned Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, there would be a real Mercenary class and arenas to abuse!

_**Eyes of a Sellsword: Path of Radiance**_

_**Chapter 1 – Bandits and Trouble Makers**_

Caldea, Crimea. Year 645. Sometime in the morning

**(Matt's POV)**

"Wake up, haven't you been sleeping long enough?"

_Leave me alone please, I haven't had my recommended 10-12 hours of sleep, at least I don't think so._

I then felt something hard hit my face, maybe one of my boots?

_That wasn't necessary._

"Alright, I'm up! What's going on and why'd you hit me with a boot?" I asked the girl who was around my age. She was cute, having long brown hair that reached her chest, with a slim figure. She had a look of concern about her.

Okay, where do I start? My name is Matt, I'm eighteen years old, and I live in Crimea. My parents are Royal Knights of Crimea. I was raised to be able to defend myself and others with a sword. They insisted I would train to be a knight as well, but I didn't want to at the time. I wanted to be free, to be able to roam around on my own as a solo mercenary. I've been traveling as a mercenary for about a year now, and I hardly ever get any jobs, if I'm lucky enough to get a job I don't get paid much. At least I make enough for food and a cot to sleep in for a few nights. This job I got hired for was no different.

This lovely little village known as Caldea has been dealing with some bandits and I offered my services. I was promised some gold, a few nights to stay. Alright, I might have rambled for too long so….

"Y-you told me to find any way to wake you up when the bandits came. You're a **really** heavy sleeper. I'm sorry sir, but the bandits are here," the girl explained.

"Oh right, bandits... I'll be taking my leave then."

"_Time to work for that measly payment," I thought to myself. _I put my boots on, grabbed my steel sword, and went on my way.

"Wait, take these before you go," the girl said. She had a vulnerary and what looked to be a seraph robe in her hands. "Don't get killed out there. I'm sorry we couldn't pay you much, but you could sell this for some gold."

"Oh, you're the greatest," I exclaimed and hugged her. After doing said action, she blushed. _Ha, too bad I can't stay._ "I'm leaving now, you'd best shut these doors and lock them, dear!"

I ran outside and I heard the doors lock. Then I heard some big dude with an axe say out loud, "What's going on out there? Is that some sort of army? Pah. A bunch of mercenaries looking for their next meal. The villagers must've hired 'em. Listen up, lads! Hurt 'em, and hurt 'em bad! We let this bunch live, and we'll have hordes of hired swords hounding us for the rest of our days!"

_Must be the leader. What did he say about mercenaries? Plural?_ I looked behind me, and saw some blue-haired dude my age wearing a red cape, a red-haired woman with an axe, and two others, an axe-user with short green hair and a knight with a lance. The last two I mentioned must be brothers. They were walking over my way, a few dead bandits behind them. Mr. Blue-Head ran towards me, with a curious look on his face. _This job got a little easier. _With a sword in hand, he approached me.

"You don't look like a bandit. Who are you, and what are you doing here," he asked.

"Sup man, my name is Matt, and I'm a travelling mercenary. This village hired me to take care of these bandits. Looks like you beat me to it," I answered.

"I guess so. My name is Ike of the Greil Mercenaries. Looks like we'll be working together on this mission."

Everyone else then introduced themselves.

"My name is Titania, and I'm the deputy commander of the Greil Mercenaries," said the red-head knight.

"I'm Oscar, and this is my brother Boyd," pointing to his spiky green-haired brother. "Nice to meet you," he said with a smile.

"Here's to kicking some bandit-butt," said Boyd with excitement on his face.

"Nice to meet you all, let's get going, shall we?" Everyone nodded, and split up to take care of the rest of the bandits.

A myrmidon ran over my way, iron sword in hand. _Just let him run this way.._ He swung his sword vertically, attempting to cut me in half. I unsheathed the steel sword on my back and blocked. Not a second was wasted, and I kicked him in the stomach. With a groan he fell over, and I finished him off, digging my blade into his back.

To my right, a fighter swung his axe, attempting to cut my head off. I stepped back a few feet to miss the blow. Out of nowhere, Boyd met the fighter with his own axe and kept him busy. Without a moment's waste, Oscar rode over and stabbed the bandit in the chest. "Heh, thought a little guy like you might've needed a hand," Boyd said, scratching the back of his head. _Little guy, huh? I'm not much shorter than him or Ike. Whatever._ Oscar rode over to attack a myrmidon that was fighting Ike.

"Thanks man, but you should be watching your back." As I said that, another bandit swung his axe at Boyd, and I pushed Boyd away, meeting my sword with his steel axe. I quickly elbowed him in the jaw. The bandit didn't seem to take to that kindly, as he screamed like a madman and swung his axe toward me. "Nice try, bud," I said, ducking and swinging my sword, slicing one of his legs clean off. He fell over, clutching what was left of his leg. I then stabbed his neck, quickly killing him.

"Nice," said Boyd, as he high-fived me. I smiled and looked over to where the big bad boss man was.

Titania was fighting him, having no trouble, landing some nasty blows on his body. He gritted his teeth, somehow still standing. He swung his axe downward, and Titania quickly reacted by backing up on her horse. As she did that, Ike finished him off by stabbing his chest. The leader of the bandits was done for. He fell on his back, coughing up blood.

"Urgh! I... I'm meant for better than this... I don't want to die here," he said, ending his struggled breathing.

"You should've picked a safer line of business," I said, wiping some sweat off of my face.

"That's the end of it. Ike, are you all right," Titania asked with some concern.

Ike answered her saying, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Well Ike, you're quite the fighter," I said with a smirk. "Is there any chance that the Greil Mercenaries would be looking for another hand?"

Titania looked over to me and said, "You're more than welcome to join Matt, we'll just need the commander's say in this."

"Sounds great," I said with a big smile on my face.

Titania looked all of us over for any injuries. None of us appeared to be hurt. "Everyone's all right? Then let's get going. I'm sure Mist has a nice, hot meal waiting for us."

"Mist is my younger sister Matt. You seem like a trustworthy person, but if you get too close to her, I'm afraid I won't be able to 'control my sword arm' if you know what I mean," Ike said to me as we were on our way to the Greil Mercenaries Headquarters. At least, that's what I thought it would be called in my head.

"No worries Ike, I hear ya," I said with seriousness.

"Good, I'm looking forward to working with you," he said, this time with a smirk.

"As am I," I said.

It's been a while since the fight at Caldea, and after Titania had received our payment. I'm exhausted, and starving. I stifled a yawn and then my stomach rumbled. _Pretty darn sure everyone heard that. Heh._ Boyd laughed and put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm hungry too, man," said Boyd.

"Well, I haven't eaten anything today. This will be a nice change of pace, never having to deal with hunger in between small-paying jobs," I said with a small smirk. As I said that, I spotted a small courtyard along with a few buildings. _Guess this is home. That is, if the commander agrees to having me._

"Home, sweet home," said Boyd, running inside the bigger building of the two, probably getting a bite to eat. Ike followed him soon thereafter. Oscar took his horse to the small stable located to the left of the biggest building.

"Alright Matt, it's time to meet Commander Greil," said Titania after she put her horse in the stable.

"Uh huh, gotcha," I said, following her inside the building everyone else went into. Despite it being a base for a mercenary group it seemed very homely, with a kitchen, dining room and a living room. There were rooms for each member! _Oh, I hope I get my own room, but I'll be happy enough just to work with these guys, no more struggling to find a job!_

After walking through a narrow hall with several rooms for the mercenaries, we ended up at a door at the end of the hall. _Guess this is Greil's office._ Titania knocked on the door. I heard a masculine voice from the room, saying "Come on in!"

We walked in, and Titania reported on the mission. "There were no casualties, blah, blah, blah," I didn't really pay attention until she introduced me to Greil.

**(Greil's POV)**

Titania reported to me everything with what results came about from the mission. "…and this is Matt, he wishes to join us, Commander," she finished.

"Titania, thank you for the report. You may go now, I wish to speak to Matt alone."

"Of course, Commander," said Titania, smiling to me as she walked out and closed the door behind her.

I looked this Matt over. He looked to be about my son Ike's age, with short red hair and blue eyes. He looked a bit shorter than Ike, however he looked pretty muscular. He had on a black short sleeve shirt that was unbuttoned, revealing a white shirt with no sleeves. He had black boots that reached no higher than his ankles, and dark blue pants that were tucked into the boots. What was most noticeable was the sword sheathed on his back, it looked to be heavy for him.

"So," I began, "you were also hired to deal with those bandits?"

**(Matt's POV)**

Greil is a big guy. He looked built like a bear, with short brown hair. He looked to be really intimidating, but he seemed to have a gentle yet stern voice. He wore a black shirt along with a huge shoulder guard, white pants tucked into blue boots, and, like Ike, had a cape, but it was yellow. _Okay, what's up with the capes?_

"Yes sir," I answered calmly.

"Hmm… alright. Well, tell me about yourself then. Why do you wish to join my band of mercenaries? Do you have any family who knows what you're doing," he started asked me.

"Sir, I've been a solo mercenary for just a year now, just trying to live off of whatever money I make from odd jobs and such. Lately, I've been pretty unlucky finding jobs. I don't care if you can afford to pay me or not, I love living the mercenary way, and all I ask is for a place to sleep and food. I have more to experience before I return to my family." I paused for a few seconds and continued. "My mother and father are Royal Knights of Crimea. They insisted I join them, but I wanted to see the world, you know what I mean? I promised that I would undergo training as a Royal Knight in the future. They let me go on my own, telling me to stay alive"

"Ha, I like you kid," the man exclaimed. "You remind me of myself when I was younger," Greil stated with a look of nostalgia on his face. "You're in, I hope you are ready to be pulling your own weight around here!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Boss," I said with a confident smile.

"Go on and eat boy," the new boss said. "We'll get you settled in soon."

"Alrighty then, thank you for hiring me," I said, walking out his door.

Walking over to the mess-hall, I grabbed a plate and filled it with what must be what that Mist girl made. I then took a seat at a nearby table and started to eat. A brown-haired girl with light blue eyes sat right across from me.

"Hi there, you must be Matt, my brother told me about you," she said. "I'm Mist, it's nice to meet you," she said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Mist. Why are you eating after everyone else," I asked her. Everyone has already eaten, and are out doing God knows what.

"I just wanted to meet you," she answered simply, after eating some of her food.

"Well, that's awfully nice," I said. Right as I said that, a light green-haired kid who looked to be Mist's age took a seat next to me.

"I'm Rolf, Boyd and Oscar's brother! Nice to meet you, newbie," he said.

"Ha, sure that's what Boyd will be calling me. Maybe. My name's Matt, it's nice to meet you Rolf."

"I wonder where Uncle Shinon and Gatrie are," Rolf said.

I looked to Mist as she told me about the two Rolf mentioned.

"Well Rolf, with what Mist told me about them, Gatrie should be skirt-chasing while Shinon is drinking," I said.

Rolf quickly replied to me saying, "You should be right about Gatrie, but Uncle Shinon doesn't drink much!"

"Well, at least your 'Uncle Shinon' doesn't drink here," I said, while leaning back on my chair. A second passed, and I felt my head hit the floor, along with the rest of my body and the chair.

"Oh my gosh, are you alright, Matt," Mist asked, quickly getting off her seat to help me up. Rolf, however, just laughed it up.

"Yep, that felt wonderful", I said with a smirk, accepting her help up. She seemed to struggle a little getting me up, however.

"You're pretty heavy Matt," said Mist.

"Yeah yeah, thanks," I said sarcastically getting back on my seat, while she went back to hers.

"Look at your arms, they're probably even bigger than Boyd's," Mist said. Rolf laughed at what she said.

"I'll have to arm wrestle him then," briefly flexing my biceps. Mist giggled, while looking away, slightly blushing.

"You should help teach me Matt," Rolf said looking up to face me.

"Teach you what," I asked him.

He leaned in closer to my ear and whispered, "You're good with girls, man. I uhhh… kinda want Mist to like me."

_Haha! Looks like Rolfie-Boy has a crush!_ I whispered back to him, "I'm good with girls? I've never had a girlfriend," I continued with a smile, "We'll talk about this some other time, Rolfie-Boy," I finished, messing with his hair with my hand.

After several minutes of chatting and eating, we finished dinner. Mist and Rolf were cleaning up after everyone, and I offered to help. They politely refused, as Oscar showed up to help them.

"That's very nice of you, but I believe Titania wants to speak with you Matt," Mist said looking over to the red-haired woman approaching me.

"Oh hi there, Titania," I said after turning to her.

"Matt, follow me to your room. You'll be sharing it with Boyd," she said, walking to the rooms with me following right after her.

I heard Rolf saying "Good luck rooming with him!" laughing a little.

"Welcome to Griel's Mercenaries, Matt," said both Oscar and Mist.

After less than a moment of walking, we made it to my room. Titania knocked on the door, and Boyd quickly opened it, revealing our room. It wasn't big, but there was enough room for two beds, a bookcase, and other things. _Definitely beats sleeping on the ground. _It was surprisingly clean, for someone like Boyd staying in there.

"Well, here you are Matt," Titania said. "If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me or the Commander." She then looked over to Boyd and asked him, "Did you do all of your practice swings today, Boyd?"

"Haha, of course I did," Boyd confidently said, flexing his muscles. I then quickly jabbed at his bicep. He reacted by pushing me down.

"Not cool, bro," I said, getting up off my butt.

"Oh, what are we going to do with you…Goodnight you two," she said walking out of our room and closing the door. I heard her softly chuckle on the way to wherever she was headed.

"Well, it's getting late, so I guess we should go ahead and get some shut-eye for whatever job the boss will have for us next," Boyd said, handing me some extra clothes. "Compliments of the boss himself, dude."

"Thanks man," I said. I spent the next few minutes getting ready for bed. Boyd had already gotten ready, as he was laying down on his bed.

"Night, roomie," Boyd said, his voice muffled underneath a pillow and blanket.

"Goodnight dude," I said, hitting the hay, quickly falling asleep.

**(A/N): **Shazam! There's the first chapter! If you're wondering more about my OC, he looks like Raven from FE7, but is the opposite in terms of personality. He would be under the class of a mercenary. So, what else do I say in Author's Notes and such? Thanks for reading, hope you liked it, I actually enjoyed writing it, however short and bad it probably is haha. If you are nice, you would hit that lovely little link saying: Review this Chapter. I will love you very much if you did that! I'll even kiss you! Ummmmmmm I take that last part back. Maybe.


	2. Chapter 2: How unexpected, more Bandits!

**(A/N): **Hello there, everybody! Two chapters in two days! Oh, how I'm using my time off work and class for my writing and your reading pleasure! :) Even though I've only had like one review so far, this doesn't throw me off one bit. Besides it's only been one day since I posted the first chapter of this story! Thanks again to **cazcappy**, and you all for reading and potential reviewing!

Here we go again for another round! Chapter 2!

I own nothing but OC, blah blah blah!

_**Eyes of a Sellsword: Path of Radiance**_

_**Chapter 2: How Unexpected, more Bandits!**_

I've been with the Greil Mercenaries for a few days now. I learned about my fellow "employees".

Ike is Greil's son. He seems nice, but he's a little bit on the dull side. Not saying he's stupid or anything. I've had some time to spar with him, and he's very skilled with the sword. Which is no surprise, since Greil must have trained him. As a result of the sparring, we've tied a great majority of the time, sometimes I beat him, and other times he beats me.

Titania is the deputy commander. She seems to be a motherly person, looking after everyone. I haven't sparred with her yet, but I'm sure I wouldn't have a chance. According to Ike, she was once part of the Royal Knights! I don't know why she is a mercenary now, but it's an honor working with her, even though we haven't gone on any missions since the bandit issue at Caldea.

Mist, as Ike has told me, is his younger sister. She's very kind and naïve. All she and Rolf do for the mercenaries is cleaning up, and other simple jobs. I feel bad for them, having boring duties, so every now and then I would help them out.

Oscar is the eldest of his brothers. He was once in the Royal Knights until he got discharged. After that, Greil offered them a home here. He and Boyd couldn't have been able to care for Rolf until Greil came around. Oscar is a very calm and patient person. He also cooks, and everything he whips up in the kitchen is amazing!

Boyd is the middle brother. He's quite the trouble maker, at least to yours truly, his new "roomie". Once he learned of my excessive sleeping, he used it to his advantage, consistently pulling pranks on me. He's hidden away my clothes while I was asleep the first morning, for one, so I had to look around in only my undergarments. The next morning he dumped a bucket of cold water on me. I should probably ask if I could share a room with someone else. That aside, he's a nice guy. He's decent with an axe, even though I've beat most sparring matches with him.

That leaves Rolf, the youngest brother. He's helped Boyd pull those pranks, so they both can annoy me. Any time I see Mist, Rolf is there with her. It's pretty cute, to be honest. I was going to help him to get Mist to like him, but she seems to like him already, even though he can't tell yet. He speaks highly of Shinon, which reminds me, when are they going to come around? Would Shinon and Gatrie still up to their escapades?

I also met Rhys, the red-headed healer of the group. He's a weak person, from what Titania tells me. He was sick at the time I met him, so I only got to speak with him briefly. Hope the poor guy gets better.

I'm looking forward to my first mission as part of the Greil Mercenaries..

Fast forward a few days

**(Matt's POV)**

I woke up early in the morning, with no pranks from Boyd or Rolf. _This is a nice way to wake up._ I walked out of my room, and no one was around! _What's going on? Where is everybody? _I went around everywhere, looking for someone, but it was all in vain. _Maybe it was some emergency, and they abandoned me? Nah, they wouldn't do that…..or would they?_

I went outside to find Titania riding toward me. She didn't waste a second asking, "Have you seen Ike?"

"No, I just got up, and I didn't see anyone out here, what's going on," I asked her.

"Oh no… Would they really go against….," she thought out loud to herself. "Come on, we need to go! Rolf and Mist have been kidnapped by bandits!"

"What's with these bandits," I wondered out loud. I quickly ran inside, grabbed my sword, and went back to Titania.

I then rode with her to the bandit's hold, which thankfully didn't take so long.

"I'm sure I told them to wait for me... I should have known they'd disobey orders. They have no discipline," Titania said to herself more than to me.

"Don't worry, Titania. It looks like Ike and company are putting up a fight. We'll get Mist and Rolf in no time," I said, trying to assure her.

She wasn't worried, however. She quickly said, "There's no option. We can't allow them to be harmed."

We then arrived by Ike and everyone else. I then jumped off of Titania's horse, unsheathing my sword.

As I ran past Ike he quickly said, "Thanks for coming Matt," before closing in on yet another bandit.

I ignored what he said, rushing forward to the nearest bandit. He appeared to carry a steel axe. _Not a good choice in weapons, big guy!_ He quickly swung his axe toward my chest. I quickly ducked, and grabbed the bandit's unoccupied arm. I pulled with all of my strength, which sent him to the ground. I quickly got back up on my feet, and stabbed his neck, instantly killing him.

Oscar and Titania rode past me, fighting two other bandits. I then ran to what appeared to be the leader of the bandits. He ran right to me, axe in hand. "You're gonna regret kidnapping Mist and Rolf, once I'm done with you," I threatened him. He just grinned and swung his axe at my head. I sidestepped, his swing missing me completely. Then Boyd swung his axe at the bandit, nearly cutting his arm off.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The big guy didn't seem to like that, judging by his scream. He swung his axe at Boyd this time, Boyd parrying his blow with his iron axe. As Boyd parried another swing, I slammed my blade from behind into his skull, instantly killing I pulled my sword out, the bandit fell to the ground, motionless. I then wiped my sword on his clothing, getting rid of the blood.

As I dealt with the leader, Ike finished off a nearby myrmidon, stabbing his neck. Rhys looked over us with great concern to see if anyone had any injuries. Luckily, none of us were seriously hurt.

Then came another bandit from an old musty shack, with Mist and Rolf in tow.

"You best let them both go, if you know what's best for you," Ike threatened the bandit with an evil stare.

"Brother," Mist exclaimed with hope.

"We'll get you out of here Rolf," said both Boyd and Oscar. Rolf was just tearing up with fear.

"Shut up! Shut your stinking trap! If you want these two alive, you'll throw your weapons down. If you don't, I'll start with the girl..." the bandit said with rage.

"Stop," Ike yelled.

"Ike, wait. I'm putting down my weapons. See?" Titania said to the bandit. "You all better do the same."

"Fine," I said as we all set our weapons down on the ground.

"Heh heh heh... All right, so now you're all unarmed. Which means...all you can do is watch while I gut this whiny brat like a fatling pig," the bandit said with a devious look and was just about to swing his axe at Rolf.

Ike yelled out as he was about to kill Rolf. Then out of nowhere, the bandit got shot with an arrow right in between the eyes. _Ahh dang, that's a pretty good shot! _The bandit fell to the ground dead.

Rolf looked like he fainted, so he wasn't at all harmed. Boyd and I let out a sigh. _Poor kids, going through all this.._

Ike approached the dead body, wondering out loud, "This guy's dead. But who shot him?"

"A single arrow right between the eyes! Who else could have landed a shot so precise," a man said with a prideful smirk, approaching us. He had red hair, tied into a ponytail, wore a green shirt, with brown pants, and a large bow in hand.

Behind him was a blonde-haired man wearing blue armor, stumbling to catch up with his friend. He was coughing and panting really hard. _Hard to move around with all that armor, huh? _According to Mist and Rolf's descriptions, these guys were Shinon and Gatrie.

"Don't you children owe me a little gratitude," Shinon said. "I did just save your lives."

"Deputy Commander...Shinon...hah...hah... You're both so cruel. With this armor on, you know I can't run that fast..." Gatrie said in between breaths. _Poor guy._

"I knew we'd need reinforcements. I'm glad it wasn't a waste of time," Titania explained to us. She then walked toward Shinon and Gatrie saying, "Well done, both of you."

"In the end, I got to feather someone. So it was worth the rush," Shinon said with a confident smirk.

"All I...did...was sweat... That...was h-hard...work..." Gatrie said, still breathing hard.

Mist ran over to Ike and hugged him exclaiming his name with happiness.

"Mist... You did well, Sis. You must have been frightened," Ike said with a smile.

"I never stopped believing. I knew that you and the others would come and rescue us. I knew you'd come! So, I was fine," Mist said to her brother.

I turned my attention to Rolf. Oscar had lifted him up onto his horse. Boyd then slapped my back and said with confidence, "We make quite the team, eh Matt?" He then finally reached down to reach his axe, revealing a pair of underwear above his pants. I quietly took a grab of his underwear and….. YANK! Wedgie!

"YOUCH!" Boyd yelled out, pulling his pants over his new-fitting underwear. He looked over to me, daggers in his eyes.

"Revenge for hiding my clothes and pouring cold water over me in bed," I said with a smirk. Oscar chuckled a little, along with Mist.

"He did get you pretty good, Boyd," Mist said in between laughs.

"Hmph. I guess we're even then," Boyd said, shaking my hand.

On the way back home

"So, you must be the new kid, huh?" Shinon approached me, with a curious look in his eyes.

"Yeah, my name's Matt, nice to meet you Shinon," I reached my hand to shake his, but he looked away.

"Pah. Better watch your back, Matt," the sniper said, not looking back in my direction. "You're nothing kid, and you won't be able to prove your worth to the commander." He then walked over to Titania to speak with her. _Jackass._

"What did I do?" I questioned myself. A blonde-haired knight then walked over to me, patting my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Shinon is like that with new members. He doesn't even like Ike, despite him being the commander's son," Gatrie said.

"Gotcha. My name is Matt, by the way," I said looking over to the blue armor-wearing knight.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Gatrie," he shook my hand with an easy going smile. "So Matt," Gatrie started, "what made you decide to join Greil's Mercenaries?"

I then told him my story. He nodded. "So, joined for the homeliness?" He then lightly chuckled. "I'm here to gain fame as a mercenary, to be honest. The girls will have no choice but to love me! Tee hee," he finished with a laugh and questionable look on his face. _Definitely confirmed Mist's description._

As we all approached the courtyard, Titania said to me with a smile, "Thanks for helping out on such short notice, Matt. I thought you'd still be asleep," Titania lightly chuckled.

"It's my job, Deputy Commander," I said with a smirk. "But please try to go easy on Ike and everyone else. They only acted out of instinct. If I were put in that situation, I would have acted the same way," I said to the red-haired paladin.

"I'm leaving the disciplining to Commander Greil, he'll know what to do," Titania said, riding to the stable along with Oscar.

"I heard that," Ike said as he walked over to me. "Why'd you tell her that, Matt? I deserve whatever punishment I get."

"I'm not too sure, to be honest. Maybe I'm just way too nice," I replied with a thoughtful look on my face.

"You've only been with us for a few days. You already consider everyone your friends," Ike questioned me.

"Well, except for Shinon, I trust you guys, Ike. You guys didn't know much of who I am, but you all accepted me without a second thought. Is it because my parents are Royal Knights, and Greil wanted to add their potential strength to yours?"

"My father talked with both me and Titania after he spoke with you. He said he had a feeling we would need your help sometime, and we didn't question it. He is the commander, after all," Ike explained.

"Your father doesn't strike me as some predictor, or fortune-teller," I joked. "Regardless, I'm here for you guys."

"No way, he isn't," Ike said smiling, "but thank you for your hand in all this, Matt. I hope we're worth your time."

"I asked you guys to employ me, not the other way around man," I said with a small smile. He then nodded and went on his way.

_I don't know what I've gotten myself into, but this should be fun..  
_

**(A/N): **….And that would be Chapter 2! Please review! I desire feedback and nothing else! Much love! :D


	3. Chapter 3: Pirates and A Pegasus Knight

**(A/N): **Well, I took too long of a break from this, haha! I've been so darn busy with work and class. This semester should be over with in around three weeks or so. What does this mean? Besides working, I'll have a good amount of time writing! Yay!

I thank all the wonderful people who have reviewed my story thus far: **cazcappy**, **Crizix, Kamia-Rui, **and **nomey1**! I also thank those who have read this story and favorite-ed! You're all pretty darn awesome, thought you all would like to know. :)

Onward to the long-awaited third chapter!

Oh yeah, I don't own anything but the OC. Are disclaimers necessary? I dunno.

_**Chapter 3: Pirates and a Pegasus Knight**_

**(Matt's POV)**

We got back to the base, and had a night of silence and not much else. Everyone had some guilty look on their faces. Well, except for Titania, Mist, Rolf, and myself. Mist and Rolf are just happy to be back, safe and sound. Shinon and Gatrie were just relaxing. I just kicked back, most of the time sleeping.

The morning after..

Titania had told Commander Greil what had happened, about most of the group disobeying Titania's orders. She had good meaning, sending for Shinon and Gatrie's help, but what if Ike and everybody did obey and wait? Those bandits could've just killed both Mist and Rolf. _Wait, but didn't those guys want revenge on Titania for how we beat their sorry little buddies' behinds at Caldea? I need to quit thinking so much. What's done is done. At least everyone came out a-okay.._

While the boss-man called for Ike and those involved in going against the Deputy Commander's orders, I hung out with Shinon and Gatrie. The pony-tailed sniper had set up a target almost a hundred feet away from him. He kept hitting the target with his bow and arrow, flawlessly hitting the bulls-eye mark. Each arrow he launched had crushed the arrows that had already hit the center. It was quite a show, but got boring after a while. I walked toward a certain skirt-chasing knight in blue armor.

"Hey there, Gatrie! You up for a little sparring?" I asked him.

"Sure thing, friend! But I'm afraid you couldn't stand a chance against me in this armor." he said with pride.

I laughed. "How about you take that stuff off? It definitely slows you down." I said with a confident smirk.

"That sounds fine. Since you wear no armor, we'll make it fair." he said, taking off his armor. It seemed to take a little while, as he wore plenty of heavy armor. _But he won't need protection from sparring weapons._

"Are you ready yet?" I asked with tested patience. I held up the wooden sword I picked out and swung it a few times, getting used to the light weight. I watched Shinon, still effortlessly hitting the bulls-eye with his arrows. _Does he ever get tired of that?_

"I am now." a voice from behind me said. I turned around, ready to defend myself from Gatrie's wooden lance. He rushed forward towards me, attempting to slam his lance into my chest. I ducked underneath the swing, and brought up my sword to hit his stomach. He expected that, as he used the opposite of his spear arm to protect himself. He then brought his lance to my stomach, which I didn't expect. I felt the impact of the blunt end of his spear, coughing a little, quickly catching my breath. I quickly regained my stance and we continued to spar.

After a few exchanging of hits and misses, we both were exhausted. I wiped some sweat off of my forehead and sighed. Gatrie was panting, but not as bad as when he's in that blue, bulky armor. He was pretty fast without all that armor on, but not as fast as I was. After sparring, Gatrie put his armor back on, wanting to be ready for duty at all times.

"Hahh…. Woo! You're…. pretty darn fast," Gatrie started, "glad I'm on your side, Matt!" He then flashed a quick smile and looked over to Shinon, who was finishing shooting arrow after arrow at the target. "Right, Shinon?"

Shinon didn't look like he was paying any attention to our sparring at all. "Pah. I've seen better fighters. Even if you hit my friend a few times doesn't make you decent." Shinon said with a yawn.

I just ignored what the red-haired sniper said, and put away our training weapons. Right as I finished, Titania showed up along with Ike. "Hey there, what's going on?" I asked, looking toward the two.

"We have a job to do. Matt, Shinon, Gatrie, you're coming with me and Ike," said Titania. As she said that, Shinon and Gatrie walked up behind me.

A few hours later, in Port Talma

We all arrived in Port Talma, which isn't anything special. I imagine there would be plenty of business going on, being right at the coast. I'm sure fishermen would be pretty successful out here. But no one was around, just an old dusty ship tied to the end of the port. There were pirates, looking to steal from the innocents.

Titania showed up after speaking with some elder citizen. "Is everyone ready?"

"Feathering sea scum is like shooting apples off a tree," Shinon said with a bored expression on his face, "let's do the job and get out of here."

"Let's do this." I said with a confident smirk.

"These guys won't stand a chance." Gatrie said, confidently, lifting up his steel lance in the air.

"Ready." Ike said with a serious expression. _This guy needs to chill._

Right as Ike said that, a fighter ran toward Ike, iron axe in hand. Ike rushed toward the fighter, ready to strike. Before Ike could attack, the fighter had an arrow stuck right in his neck, instantly killed. Shinon just laughed.

Gatrie headed to a myrmidon at the left side, immediately stabbing his lance right through him.

I ran to a pirate with an iron axe in hand, unsheathing my sword. He swung horizontally at my chest. I brought my sword up, blocking the blow. I quickly swung my sword, cutting into his chest. He fell to the ground, not moving an inch.

I then spotted a pirate running toward me, throwing his hand axe aimed for my skull. I quickly held up my hand in front of my face, instantly catching the axe. The pirate had a surprised look on his face. "Oh," I started with a smile, "looking for this?" The pirate just stood still, not moving. Then he fell face-first on the ground, arrow stuck in his head. I just walked away, axe still in hand. _C'mon, Shinon!_

I walked over to Titania, who had just finished off an archer with her steel axe. She then turned and nodded at me. "Is there something you need, Matt?"

"Nah, I just found something you might like," I said, tossing the hand axe to her. She caught it, nodded, and then rode toward a pirate fighting with Ike.

With a good amount of the pirates in the port finished, I brought the fight to the remaining pirates aboard the ship, along with Ike and Shinon. I boarded the ship first, with Ike following me. I spotted an archer, aiming for a pink-haired pegasus knight. I stabbed the archer before he could shoot the arrow, falling overboard.

The pegasus knight rode toward a myrmidon, stabbing her lance into his chest. She stopped as soon as Ike ran toward her.

As he was speaking with the pink-haired girl, I ran up to the last of the pirates, ready to attack. The leader of the pirates approached me with a steel axe in hand.

I gave out a warning, to see if he would leave this port. "Hey there, no one really likes how you're stealing from the innocent and such. Leave now, give everything you have stolen back, and we'll show you mercy." I warned with a serious face.

"Yar har har! Boy thinks he can threaten! Try me, kid!" he said as he swung his axe vertically. I sidestepped, as I swung my steel sword at him. He stepped out of the way, as I had expected. I then swung my right foot to his ribcage. As a result, he fell to his knees, gasping for breath.

I approached him, sword in hand. "How about now?" I asked, losing my patience.

As I said that however, Shinon shot an arrow to his head. He fell over on his back, dead. The red-head sniper wiped his forehead, laughing slightly. He then said, "These guys were pathetic, not worth a moment of my time."

I turned to him, shaking my head. Titania and Gatrie showed up, having dealt with the few bandits trying to destroy a house. Ike caught up, after talking to that pegasus knight. "Got a new girlfriend, huh Ike?" I asked with a smirk.

He appeared flustered, shaking his head. "Don't be ashamed, Ike! She was a cutie." Gatrie said, high-fiving me.

Ike said, "That was Marcia, a pegasus knight of Begnion. She was looking for someone when the bandits attacked. She said she would return to help us sometime to 'show her gratitude'. Pretty sure she meant that by joining us in the future."

"You sure she won't do something else to _show her gratitude_?" Gatrie laughed, elbowing me.

I shook my head disapprovingly, hitting him in the back of his head. I said, "No naughty thoughts, Gatrie. At least just keep your thoughts to yourself, man."

"That's enough, boys." Titania said. "Looks like we're done here. Anyone hurt?" She looked to each of us.

"Matt hit me pretty darn hard, Deputy Commander." Gatrie said, rubbing where I hit him.

"I didn't hit you that hard." I simply said.

Titania looked a bit tired of our antics. She sighed and said, "Great job, everyone. Let's receive our payment, and we'll be on our way. And thanks for the axe Matt."

"Your very welcome, Titania." I said with a smile.

After receiving our payment, we went on our way back. Everyone seemed a bit to themselves, thinking about what that guy at the port said:

"_As a matter of fact, you're more than good enough to be in the royal army if you so desired. Especially your Commander Greil. He's far and away better than most any general I've seen hereabouts. Er... What I mean to say is... Don't you think running off pirates is a bit...beneath you?" the old man said to Titania._

_Titania seemed taken aback by what he said. "That's not.." She was interrupted by the old man._

"_Don't get me wrong, now. You certainly helped all of us simple folk out. Even so, it seems to me the proper place for you and your Commander Greil is in the service of the Crimean throne! Well, that's what this old man thinks."_

_Titania replied, "We- and Commander Greil- are quite satisfied with the work we do now."_

_The man said with a grateful smile, "You've nary a selfish bone among you. Well then, rest assured we'll speak again if any problems arise. Thank you again."_

Shinon had this incurable look of boredom on his face. He said before that there was much better work that we all could be doing.

Gatrie seemed to agree with Shinon, thinking the mercenary work was wasting their talents.

Of course, Titania was happy with what she does. It's as if she couldn't see herself doing anything other than working alongside Commander Greil and his mercenaries. Ike is happy as well, proud of being Greil's son. One day, he will be the commander of the Greil Mercenaries, and I hope he'll be up to the task in the future. _Will I still be around these guys when Ike is the leader? If they still need me, I'll be there. I'm sure the Royal Knights of Crimea could wait a little longer._

Titania approached me with a curious look on her face. She asked, "Matt, what do you think about what that man said at Port Talma? About us with what we do?"

"To be honest, I was planning on joining the Royal Knight of Crimea in the future. Not now, but maybe when I'm done working with you guys. My parents wanted me to join the knights, but they're quite okay with me being a mercenary, as they've done the same in their youth. I'm happy and grateful to be working with you all." I said with a serious look.

"Oh, right. Commander Greil told me and Ike about you and your family your first night." Titania said with an understanding nod. "I'm glad you're with us Matt. You're quite skilled at fighting."

"Thank you very much." I said with a smile. "My parents never wasted their time training me."

Besides Gatrie's ranting about how hungry he was, it was quiet all the way back to the base. Everyone was reserved, so I kept silent, and let my mind wander through the course of my time with Greil's Mercenaries.

**(A/N): **There's Chapter 3 for you! Like? Dislike? Want to slam my head into a wall because of how poorly written this is? Let me know! Review! I love you all!


	4. Chapter 4: Wars and Rumors of War

**(A/N): **It's me again! I've had a little time off of work this week, so I could write this and the previous chapter, which is pretty darn sweet! What else to say... I dunno!

My thanks go to my wonderful reviewers: **Shadow Dragon, PINKDIAMOND4000, Crizix, nomey1, **also **Kamai-Rui.** And last but not least, I wanna thank my main man **cazcappy**, not just for reviewing, but also doing a little proofreading for yours truly! Let's give him a little standing ovation! *Stands up, clapping for a good minute or two*

Disclaimer: I own nada! Just the OC. *Yawns* Okay, what are you waiting for? Read!

_**Chapter 4: Wars and Rumors of War**_

**(Matt's POV)**

When we returned to the base, Titania did what she normally did after each mission: report to Commander Greil. Ike, Shinon, Gatrie and I went ahead and ate. We were all extremely tired from the mission, so we all slept afterwards.

The next morning

Today everything was going like normal until some kid came to the base. He had black hair, with pale skin and an odd red mark on his forehead. He wore black mage robes, and looked to be weak. _Ha, he's shorter than me! _He was busy talking with Ike, Greil, and Titania. I was just chilling around the base; it's quite boring when we have no missions. No bandits to stop, no pirates to kill, and the list goes on. Apparently, he's a member of Greil's Mercenaries, so I should try to get along with him.

Titania approached me, while I was relaxing. "Get up Matt. Commander Greil wishes for you to hear some news" was all she said.

I got up, stretched, and said, "Alrighty. Let's do it then." I followed her to the room where Greil, Ike, Mist, and the black-haired kid were speaking. _I wonder where Oscar and Boyd are. _Soren looked at me, as if I were nothing but a bug on a wall or something.

Greil started, "You probably remember that Soren's been training with another mercenary group. Well, he's back now. And he has some unbelievable news."

_So, his name is Soren. I don't like the look of this guy. He looks…inhuman, with no emotion on his face. Oh yeah, 'unbelievable news'...pay attention Matt!_

Ike asked, "What news is that?" We all waited for Soren to answer. Whatever the news was it had to be something big.

"It's Crimea and Daein. They've gone to war." Soren said with no emotion. We were all taken aback; we knew that Crimea was never in good relations with Daein, there were even minor skirmishes at the Crimea-Daein border, but war! _It would have been good to join the Royal Knights now I suppose._

Ike and Mist seemed just as surprised as I was. "War? It… It can't be!" Mist said alarmingly.

Greil answered without hesitation. "That's why I've called everyone here. Soren has some more information." He said, waiting for Soren to continue.

Soren said, "Alright." And he started right away. He unrolled a map of Crimea on top of a nearby table, motioning for us to take a look. The map was very descriptive, labeling the forests, mountains, and everything in between. "Take a look at this map." Soren instructed as we followed what he was saying.

Greil said with focus, looking at the map, "Ah. It's a map of Crimea. Quite detailed, from the looks of it."

Soren nodded saying "Yes," he then pointed to a castle that represented the capital, Melior. "This is Melior, Crimea's capital. Our base of operations is… right about here." He said, pointing to the southwestern region of Crimea.

Soren continued, "Everything started three days ago. I needed to do some research, so I went to the archives of Melior's royal library. Without warning, the scream of a terrible beast—a wyvern, perhaps—rent the air, and the building was rocked by a tremor. I rushed outside and saw wave after wave of knights, cavalry, and wyvern riders, each clad in glistening ebon armor, black as knight." _Jeez, Soren speaks like he could write a novel! _

Greil asked Soren, "The Daein army?" _Uh, didn't Soren already say how Crimea and Daein have gone to war? Who else could be attacking Melior? Begnion? _I silenced my sarcastic thoughts, leaving Soren to confirm Greil's suspicion.

"Correct." Soren said simply.

Greil asked yet another question, "Was there provocation?"

Soren answered with another speech, "As you know, relations between Crimea and Daein have never been...friendly." I nodded, already knowing that. Soren continued, "However, the past centuries have seen only minor skirmishes, nothing that has ever approached the scale of this attack. It was brutal and without warning. Daein laid the capital to waste. I've never destruction on this scale before."

Titania visualized what Soren said, and then said, "A swift attack, devastating and brutal… A daring gambit, indeed."

Greil said, "But if it succeeds, a very well-chosen one at that," as he put a hand to his chin, in thought. "Yes, the king of Daein would not hesitate to employ such treacherous tactics. What happened next?"

Soren answered quickly, "King Crimea's brother deployed the Crimean army to meet the attack. The king ordered his people to flee the city before the battle reached them. Fearing the worst, I also fled and made my way here."

"I wouldn't think Daein could succeed, but the attack was definitely out of nowhere. But Lord Renning could put up a fight with the help of the royal knights." I wondered out loud.

Titania seemed to completely agree with what I said, as she nodded her head.

A moment of silence fell upon all of us as we all starting thinking individually. _We can't stand for this. At least I can't. If Commander Greil doesn't support Crimea in this war, I swear I'll be joining the Royal Knights as soon as possible_ I thought.

Greil soon broke the silence asking more to himself than anyone else, "So we don't know how the tides of battle flow now, do we?" More silence, and he continued. "That's all right. Word of the war cannot have traveled far yet. We may well be the first ones who know of it out here. You did well to bring us this information, Soren. I know some risk was involved."

Soren said in that same emotionless voice, "It was nothing."

Titania mused out loud, "Daein has invaded Crimea…" Then she said to us, "We may be mercenaries, but this still affects us."

Ike asked, "What are we going to do?"

Greil thought for a moment and then said, "That's the question of the day." Turning to Titania he asked, "How do you see it, Titania?"

"Crimea is the closest thing our company has to a homeland. The Crimean royal family and noble houses have been generous, providing us with many lucrative jobs. From a moral standpoint as well as a business one, it's in our best interest to help Crimea." Titania stated her opinion.

After nodding, understanding Titania's views, he turned to the black robe-wearing mage. "What about you, Soren?

"I agree on one point: we are mercenaries." Soren started. "We are not Crimea's private militia. No coin has crossed our palms, so I think we should stay out of it."

"So you would have us sit and watch as Crimea is overrun?" Greil questioned Soren.

"I would. Daein's troops are superior in both numbers and morale. The chances of a Crimean victory are slim indeed." Soren put out bluntly.

"But Crimea is ruled by King Ramon, who is known throughout the land for his wisdom. And his brother, Duke Renning, is said to possess peerless valor and courage. Daein may not find victory so easily." Titania tried to turn Soren to Crimea's side.

"Valor and courage are for children's tales. In terms of military prowess, Daein's King Ashnard is every bit Lord Renning's equal. Victory will hinge on troop numbers and supplies, and Daein is superior in both. I think the outcome is painfully obvious." Soren said.

"Soren..." I started, feeling hopeless to change his views. "You're pretty lame, you know? Daein is waging war with Crimea for no reason, and you'd stand with them?"

"You're the new one in the group, right? Commander Greil told me about you, Matt." _He finally pays attention to me. _"You may be a good fighter, according to him and Titania, but I don't trust you one bit, you may be spying on us for someone." _He's pretty darn suspicious of me. Good; he doesn't trust me, and I don't trust him. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him, and I'm betting all I have that I could throw this guy to the other side of Tellius without even trying. _

"Well, Soren." I started with sarcasm, "It's nice to meet you too. Thanks for finally recognizing my presence in this group."

Titania ignored my exchange of words with Soren saying to the black-haired jackass, "Curse you, Soren! Crimea is not doomed! If they can turn aside Daein's initial thrust and turn it into a test of endurance..." She was interrupted by Soren.

"With the Crimean army both demoralized and ill prepared? They simply will not be able to hold out that long."

"All right. That's enough" Greil said, not wanting a confrontation between me, Titania, and Soren, though I knew Titania would side with me. "All of you. I hear what you say. However, we must ascertain the current situation before we decide on any action. We'll send a scouting party to get a closer look at Melior. Ike, I want you in charge of this. Assemble your men and get going."

"What? Me?" Ike asked in surprise.

"Titania will accompany you as an advisor." Greil continued.

"Commander, you must be joking!" Shinon said, showing up. "He's just a boy, and he's had barely more than a taste of battle. What do you expect a whelp like him to accomplish?"

"Ah, Shinon. Since you're so concerned, you can go as well." Greil said with somewhat of a smirk.

"Wait, that's not what I... Blast." Shinon said with frustration.

"Who else..." Greil mused out loud. "Gatrie, Rhys, Matt, and Soren. That should do."

"Father, wait... Why do you want me…" Ike was interrupted by his father.

"That was an order. Get moving. There's no time to waste." Greil said with a firm, commanding voice.

"Yes, sir." Ike agreed.

"Titania, I'm going out for a bit. I want you to give Ike some direction." Greil said to the red-haired paladin. _I'm sure he's going out for quite a lovely stroll._

Titania said, "Understood," Without any hesitation.

Ike said, "...Yes, sir."

At that, Greil went on his way, as we all did. We all got ready, picking up weapons in case if something would happen. We all waited on our hero Ike.

Ike then showed up after talking with Mist, new sword in hand. "Everyone looks to be ready. Let's go."

We all then head out to Melior to see the outcomes of Daein's invasion.

Capital Way

We all stopped at what looked to be a battlefield. Most of the dead bodies looked to be Daein soldiers. Shinon looked like he was searching through dead bodies for gold, or some possessions that he could sell. _I'm not surprised he'd be doing something like that. _I chose to ignore the sniper, and walked toward Gatrie. He was wiping his forehead with a small cloth. _This guy is always sweating in that armor! _As I had thought that, several soldiers in black armor were heading our way.

"Oh shoot. We better get back to everyone!" I said with alarm. Gatrie and I ran to Ike and company. They were all talking amongst themselves.

As we reached them, Gatrie said with seriousness, "We've got Daein soldiers moving in on our location! And they don't look happy!"

The black-clad soldiers heading towards us looked exactly how Gatrie described them. The green-haired leader walked toward us in his heavy armor. He had an angry look on his face as he shouted, "You there! Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Titania didn't want to get in a battle, so she reacted calmly. She said, "We're no one you need..." She was interrupted by the knight who didn't look very convinced.

"You're armed! Heed me! Drop your weapons and surrender! Act quickly, or else!" The knight yelled with a loud, commanding voice.

Shinon tried his hand on this now. "Listen to me, fool. You're making a mistake. We're not..." He was interrupted, by whom else but the annoying knight! _Say the word Ike and I'll cut these guys down._

"Ah, not going to cooperate, eh? Ready your weapons, men! Move in and kill them all!" The knight barked out to his soldiers. He then retreated to the back, behind all of his soldiers. _Oh, come back, lemme knock you around for a bit!_

"Headstrong fools!" Titania said in frustration.

Soren said with an emotionless expression, "Getting caught up in some skirmish is not part of the plan..." _No duh you pasty white emo of a mage._

Ike replied back to Soren, "But they're obviously not going to listen to us." He turned his attention to the rest of us. "Greil Mercenaries! Get ready to fight!"

As Ike was dealing with a complaining Shinon, I unsheathed my sword, standing by Gatrie and Titania, our weapons at the ready. "C'mon Ike! Shinon!" I shouted. We were smart enough to form a defense around Shinon, Soren, and Rhys.

Ike just sighed and walked and stood next to me. At that, a soldier with a steel lance ran toward me, attempting to jab me. I parried his blow with my sword, as Ike stabbed his throat. _Poor guy never stood a chance._

Then, Shinon shot an arrow at the head of an archer, aiming for Rhys. The healer looked like he was about to faint when the enemy archer's arrow landed a few feet from him. Soren opened up his tome and started chanting up a wind spell, blowing an enemy fighter into several other soldiers, knocking them down to the ground. I ran forward, stabbing the downed fighter. Titania rode by me, embedding an axe into one of the soldiers before nodding at me.

Everyone else caught up with me and Titania, attacking more soldiers. A myrmidon ran toward me, steel sword in hand. I swung my sword up, which made him step back. I then swung horizontally, piercing into his chest and blood flowed out of his body as he fell.

After what seemed like hours of fighting, we all closed in on the remnants of the Daein soldiers. As I took out another fighter, I saw everyone else fighting other soldiers; Ike was fighting the commander wearing heavy black armor. As Ike swung his sword downward, it cut through the guy's armor. _Nice sword. _As the leader stepped back, Soren finished him off with a wind spell. The spell seemed to cut right through him.

The knight fell to his knees, coughing up blood. His last words were, "Wretched curs… You will regret your decision to oppose Daein…" At that, he fell over, never to rise again.

I let out a big yawn, stretching out my entire body. Gatrie was talking with Shinon as the sniper swiped a weapon from a dead soldier's nonexistent grip. Soren didn't seem to like that, as they had some short argument that I didn't pay attention to. I walked over to Titania asking, "Well, looks like we're against Daein for sure, huh?"

"Yes..." was all Titania had said. She looked concerned; perhaps it was for the possible fate of Crimea.

"You don't really believe what Soren said, do you?" I asked. "Daein has nothing on the Royal Knights. Or the Greil Mercenaries." I said with a reassuring smile.

"Of course, Matt." Titania had a sad smile on her face, still not looking very confident.

"You just gotta stay positive! Crimea will see this through!" I said, still smiling. _I honestly do believe we'll all make it... Failure's not an option, Daein will regret what they did, and I'll make sure of it._

I turned away from Titania, suppressing a big yawn. Then out of nowhere I heard someone or something in nearby bushes. As I approached closer, I saw what it was. It was a woman, probably around my age. She had long, flowing green hair, and an orange dress that seemed to contrast her more than compliment her. Aside from the dress, she was beautiful. She didn't look to be injured, but she fainted when she saw me. _Poor girl._ I called for Ike, as he ran toward me, acknowledging the girl.

"She doesn't look hurt." Ike said, looking at her.

"We should take her before anymore idiot Daein soldiers come by." I said as I was about to pick her up off of the ground.

"Leave her." A familiar small mage said. "We shouldn't get involved in matters that don't concern us."

"Soren!" I snapped. "We're the good guys here; at least I'm sure most of us are!" As I said that I shot a glare at Shinon and then the cynical mage. "Whether you like it or not man, I'm taking her."

Ike seemed to agree with me, as he nodded at Soren. "I don't like this..." was all Soren said before he left. _I_ _can't believe I haven't beaten him up yet!_

I then went back down and gently lifted the girl up. I turned to Titania, as she grabbed a hold of the girl from me and set the girl behind her on the horse. Once that was accomplished, we headed back to the base. _We need to see what this is all about. Is she just an innocent civilian caught up in the battle? Or could it be something else... She's pretty darn cute, though.  
_

**(A/N): **Ker-plop, Kaboom! That's another chapter! I love you guys, lemme give you a hug! Or a high-five, if a hug is pushing it…. Anyway, please review! Those things keep me writing! Anything you don't like in this chapter? *Evil grin* Now (since **cazcappy** took the chance to bash me last chapter), you can hug me for each thing, good or bad! Yeah, that's how I roll. Much love to you all! :D


	5. Chapter 5: Elincia, Princess of Crimea

**(A/N): **Howdy! Sorry I haven't updated in some time, I've been busy working my butt off! Making that money for sure! I promise you'll see more chapters in a quick and rapid fashion once my winter break starts!

I spread my thanks to **c****azcappy**; he's quite amazing for all of his help! My thanks also go to my fantastic reviewers: **PINKDIAMOND4000, Shadow Dragon, Crizix, Kamai-Rui, and nomey1! **If you have read this, thank you! Don't be afraid to review, I desire them!

Disclaimer: Wanna guess what I own? That's right, no one! Except for the OC. *Cough*

Enjoy! :)

_**Chapter 5: Elincia, Princess of Crimea**_

It was the day after we found the girl after dealing with Daein soldiers. That green-haired girl had finally woken up, and she was speaking with Ike and Commander Greil. After speaking to her, Ike and his dad went on their way, doing whatever it was they needed to do. I would have introduced myself to her, but she probably needs some time to herself. Being in a battlefield isn't the most grand or wonderful thing to experience when you're not a fighter.

I decided to go outside and spar with someone. As much as I would like to hit Soren or Shinon around, I was set for sparring with Gatrie or Ike. _Besides, I could probably crush Soren just by pinching him, and Shinon doesn't use close-range weapons, his loss. _As I walked outside, I found Boyd and Oscar; who I haven't seen in some time.

I nodded at them. They smiled and started heading over to where I was standing. "Hey, Matt," greeted Oscar with a smile.

"Sup man, looks like you managed to hang in there without me to watch over you," said Boyd, laughing a little.

"Oh please Boyd! I think it would be the other way around, with how I've beat you sparring. You still practicing those axe swings?" I asked with a confident smirk. Boyd shook his head in slight frustration. Oscar just laughed, lightly shoving his elbow into his brother's side. "Anyway, what have you been up to?" I asked with some curiosity.

Oscar answered for both of them, "Commander Greil had us on separate missions from you all. Everything is all over and done with, so we're back to missions with you." _Hooray for the return of Oscar's cooking!_

"You just missed me so much, didn't you?" Boyd asked with a laugh.

"I missed kicking your butt, Boyd!" I said with a smile. "You up for some sparring right now," I asked with a fake look of intimidation.

"Don't feel up to sparring today, Matt. I'm tired from those missions." Boyd said, stretching.

"Alrighty then," I said with a small hint of disappointment. "I guess I can go beat up Gatrie or Ike."

"Good to have you both back," said Titania from behind.

"Of course," began Oscar. "If you'll excuse us both, we must speak with the commander." With that, the two brothers head out to find Greil. Titania and I were left alone.

"Hey Titania," I greeted her with a smirk. "Did Ike tell you about the girl we rescued?"

"That's what I came to talk to you about, follow me inside please. You'll need to sit down for this." She motioned for me to follow her inside, and then into the dining area where no one was sitting at. We both took seats, me sitting across from the red-haired paladin.

"Go ahead." I said, putting my feet up at the edge of the table, leaning back.

"Her name is Elincia, and she's the princess of Crimea."

I ran my hand through my hair, yawning. "Go figure. Looks like the king and queen had a daughter." I simply said.

"Do you believe me, Matt?" Titania asked with a serious face. "And are you taking this seriously?"

I then sat properly. "She looks like 'em." I said with a smile.

"She does have a striking resemblance of the king and queen." She said, nodding. "You know, you have an interesting way reacting to big news such as this."

"I guess so, people tell me that." I said, following up with a yawn. "You think she's doing okay, with this stuff about Daein attacking and everything?"

"I'm not sure. The king and queen died by King Ashnard's hands, she must be devastated." Titania said with concern.

I then got up off of my chair saying, "Well, I'm gonna see how she is. I'm guilty of getting smiles out of people." I finished with a smile.

"Very well, Matt." She said, walking outside.

_Ugh, where is she anyways?_ I scratched the back of my head in some confusion. Then I felt something or someone accidentally rubbing past me as I walked.

"Pardon me, milord." A green-haired girl said, bowing her head. _That was easy._

"Oh hey, just who I wanted to see!" I said with a smirk. She turned to look at me with her deep hazel eyes.

"I-I'm sorry?" Elincia asked with a questioning look on her face. She still wore that silly orange dress, and was exactly my height.

"You're the girl we saved the other day. Princess Elincia, right? I was told about you." I said with a serious face.

"Y-yes….." was all she said, nodding.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Matt; it's nice to meet you." I said smiling.

"Lord Ike told me you convinced everyone to take me with you. I couldn't possibly thank you enough, my lord Matt." Elincia said, bowing her green-haired head.

"Oh, don't give me that. You're too polite, your royal cuteness." I said with a smile; that name randomly coming off the top of my head.

She blushed and turned her face slightly, making her all the cuter. _Okay, that should be my name for her._

I couldn't help but have a big smile on my face. "Well, I'm just letting you know, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask. Most of these guys are nice, just watch out for a black-haired mage and red-haired archer, and you'll be alright!"

"Thank you my lor…" I interrupted her, shaking my head.

"Just call me Matt; I'm no fancy noble or anything." I said with a goofy smile.

"M-Matt then..." Elincia said with a small smile. _Nice smile. _

"There ya go!" I said with a wink. At that, she left my presence blushing once more.

"Hey Matt, I see you met Princess Elincia," Ike said from behind.

"Yeah, do we have some new duty that has to do with her?" I asked the blue-haired man.

"Her father the late king wished for her to go to Gallia. She says the king should take her in. It's all up to my father if we will take her there or not." Ike simply said.

"Why wouldn't the king of Gallia take her in?" I asked to myself more than Ike. Most everyone in knows how Crimea has been trying to build its relationship with Gallia and the laguz. My parents always told me to accept the laguz as I would to any other beorc, and never to call the laguz names such as "Sub-humans". I've never met a laguz before, but if we are to go to Gallia, I'll make the best of it. Who knows, I might make some laguz friends. "Let's hope the boss is cool with it, think of it as some sort of a vacation!" I said with a smirk.

Ike nodded in response. Then Rolfie-boy showed up yelling, "We've got trouble! Outside! There are soldiers! A lot of them!" _We had too much free time, I guess. _

Ike just yelled out, "What?" _Are you deaf, Ike? Rolf said we've got soldiers wanting to ruin our lovely night!_

Some minutes later, everyone showed up in the briefing room. Then, Commander Greil arrived asking, "Is everyone here?"

Titania quickly answered him with a simple, "Yes."

Shinon then asked, "Commander, what are the Daein dogs saying?"

Greil recited what he heard from the soldiers. "'Turn over Princess Crimea and leave the area immediately. Comply now, or we will attack.' Pretty straightforward."

Gatrie then asked, "What are we going to do?"

"That's what we're here to decide. One thing has been made clear by the arrival of our friends outside." Greil said.

"So, I would say this confirms her identity as Princess Crimea, wouldn't you?" Soren questioned the boss.

"Yes, but what do we do now? I'd like to hear the opinion of everyone here. Titania, I'd like to hear from you first." Greil requested out loud.

"The blame for the war rests on Daein. If we ally ourselves with them, the company's reputation will surely suffer. Conversely, if we deliver Princess Crimea safely, our stock will rise in the eyes of our primary employers. Our road is clear." Titania said. I wanted to high-five her so bad when I heard that. Instead, I nodded in agreement.

Then Greil asked for Soren's opinion.

"There's nothing to think about. We must deliver the princess to Daein immediately." Soren stated. I inwardly sighed, shaking my head in disgust. _He's a decent mage, but why does he have to be so...Soren? _

"Even if Crimea is in the right?" Greil asked the mage.

"We are mercenaries. Our actions are dictated only by self-interest. If we want to ensure our future, we need Daein in our debt. They will win this war, after all, and nothing else serves us better." "_I always knew I could count on you, Soren," I thought in sarcasm._

"Shinon? Gatrie?" _Greil really wants everyone's opinion. Shinon won't say anything good and Gatrie will say something about girls….haha._

"Soren's a pompous, superior whelp, but he's got the right idea. Besides, the destination's Gallia, so it's a moot question. I don't care how much we get paid; there's no way under the sun I'm going to stinking beast country." Shinon said with a frown.

"Princess Elincia... She does possess a certain regal beauty...There's a lot to be said for that, you know. However, I do prefer country girls... A bit cuter, and not quite so standoffish... Oh! Forget I said that. Whatever you decide is good for me, Commander. Yep, uh-huh, yep..." Gatrie said. _How did I know he'd say that? _

"Oscar, Boyd, what about the two of you?"

"I agree with Captain Titania. If we turn the princess over to the Daein army, we're essentially giving them permission to kill her." Oscar said with that constant squinty expression on his face.

"I'm in favor of helping her." Boyd started. "That's what heroes are supposed to do." I smirked at him. Boyd gave me a thumbs-up in reply.

"Matt?" Greil turned to me and asked.

"I agree with Boyd, Oscar and Titania. I'm not letting Daein have their way. Besides, what bad could come from aiding a princess?" I finished with a smirk.

"Well, Rhys? What's your opinion?" Greil continued asking the members.

"I believe...that none of this hinges on whether she's a princess or not. Refusing to aid someone in need is not something we should ever do. That's what I think." Rhys said with conviction. Then all of a sudden Rolf and Mist voiced their thoughts.

Rolf started, "That's right! Let's help her!"

Mist followed, "Please! We have to help her!"

Greil looked to his son and asked, "And what about you, Ike?"

"I agree with Titania. I say we help her and take her to Gallia." Ike said with the same conviction as our favorite red-haired healer.

"I see. I think I know where you all stand... Well then, here's my decision. We escort the princess to Gallia." The boss said.

Both Soren and Shinon didn't look very happy, but the red-haired sniper was the only one to blurt something out loud. "….Tsk."

Ike looked to be in thought and then asked Greil, "...Are you sure that's for the best, Father?"

Greil nodded and answered, "Yes. Besides, I think the choice has been taken out of our hands."

"What?" Ike asked in surprise.

"Open your ears and listen. Listen! All of you." He said in a commanding yet hushed voice.

" Huh? ...What is it?" Boyd was the first to ask.

"Uh... I don't hear a thing..." Gatrie said in confusion.

I gathered up in my mind the cause of the silence, staying silent until Shinon spoke up.

Shinon said more to his companion Gatrie than anyone else, "Idiot! That's the problem. Don't you think that's a bit odd? Complete silence, in all four directions."

"Oh, so that's what you're talking about!" Gatrie said in understanding.

Oscar spoke up, "Not only are the animals quiet, but the bugs are silent, too. And that is unnatural beyond belief. Which means..."

"We're surrounded. The soldiers aren't waiting for an answer. They already decided to attack." Ike said, finishing for Oscar.

Titania said, "It would appear they had no intention of keeping their side of the proposed bargain."

"They were planning on lulling us into a false sense of security and destroying every one of us." Soren said without hesitation.

"Probably so." Greil replied. "But the deal is, we're not so naive or inexperienced as to fall for their trap. Everyone, take your positions! We're going to settle this right now!"

Several minutes passed, and everyone was ready for the upcoming battle. Mist, Rolf, and Elincia stayed inside for safety. Greil said that he would hold the rear entrance by himself, so Ike led us once again.

Gatrie and Ike stayed in the front, dealing with soldiers and archers. Alongside them were Titania and Soren, attacking with hand axes and magic. They seemed to be holding out well. I took the left side along with Boyd and Oscar, with Shinon behind to cover us. Rhys stayed at a safe distance from the enemy, waiting in case if one of us got injured.

These soldiers were no joke. They kept attacking us, one by one. I was facing a soldier with a steel lance. As he attempted to ram his weapon into my chest, I crouched down, missing the blow. I then swung my sword upward, slamming into the soldier's neck. As the blood came pouring out, I kicked his body freeing my sword. As I dealt with the soldier, Boyd was fighting a fighter with what looked to be a hammer. As the enemy fighter seemed to get the upper hand on Boyd, I jumped in and stabbed the fighter. Boyd nodded in thanks and fought another soldier.

Then a myrmidon came toward me, steel sword in hand. As he swung, I sidestepped out of the way, countering with a kick to his side. Shinon then prepared an arrow, about to launch it into the swordsman's neck. As he did that, I took the fight to yet another lancer. I swung downward; the enemy reacted by stepping back. As the enemy dodged, I felt an arrow land into my chest. I immediately fell to my knees, and then everything went black...

**(Oscar's POV)**

As I defeated a fellow horseman, I saw Matt fall over due to an arrow. I quickly reacted by throwing a well-aimed javelin into the enemy archer's neck. I then rode toward Matt. Boyd met me with Matt in his grip. I took Matt onto my horse, lying behind me. I quickly rode toward Rhys, who looked to be in terror. I dismounted, and dragged the fellow mercenary to the healer. I quickly removed the arrow that was stuck on Matt's chest. Then Rhys quickly raised his staff and chanted, healing his wound.

"The bleeding has stopped due to my healing," Rhys began, "but we'll need to keep the wound covered."

I nodded, grabbing Matt and heading to the inside of the fort.

_That was too close, if that archer aimed more precise, the arrow would have hit his heart. _

**(Elincia's POV)**

Rolf, Mist, and I were sitting around inside the fort, waiting for Lord Ike and the others. We stayed quiet, silently praying for their success. Out of nowhere a familiar green-haired knight broke the silence coming inside, with Matt in his grip. Matt looked like he was unconscious, with a slight wound on his chest. I looked at the red-haired swordsman with concern.

Oscar said with calmness, "He's alive, it was just an arrow. Rhys had healed it, but we need to cover up his wound to prevent infection."

I quickly nodded, as Oscar rested Matt on a couch. He quickly left our presence, going back to the battle. Rolf and Mist walked up to the unconscious fighter. We removed his shirt, revealing his muscular torso. Mist then got some sort of bandage to wrap around his chest to cover the wound. With that being done, we awaited once more. Matt had a curious look on his face; it wasn't pained although he was hit with an arrow. He seemed to be in a deep sleep, looking content.

Rolf ended the silence saying, "Gosh, he always has that look on his face when he sleeps!"

Mist replied with a question, "How would you know this, Rolf? Oh, never mind. You and Boyd always find mean ways to wake him up!"

Rolf scratched the back of his head and quickly said, "Well, Boyd has the ideas! He just gets me to help him out! And it's funny!"

I decided to not ask about what Rolf and Boyd have done to Matt, looking at his dreamily content face, and then drifted my eyes down to his torso. I looked away, feeling some heat rush up to my face.

Hours later

**(Matt's POV)**

I woke up, not entirely remembering what happened. I looked down to my chest, seeing bandage wrapped around myself. I looked to my shirt and was about to put it on, when I had noticed a patch over what looked to be a puncture wound. I looked around; but no one was in the living room of the fort. A moment passed, and I spotted Oscar, noticing I had woken up.

"Hey, you're finally up." Oscar started with a small smirk. "Are you feeling okay? That arrow nearly got you killed, you know. We should see about getting you some armor."

"Oh yeah….. An arrow hit me." I remembered what had happened to me. "I'm guessing we won, right?"

"That's right. We held out long enough, and the Daein soldiers eventually retreated. I was just packing up with my brothers; we need to leave as soon as possible! There may be more Daeins coming this way!" Oscar said with that familiar squint and calmness.

"Gotcha," I simply said, getting up.

Oscar pointed to my shirt and said, "Mist patched up your shirt so you wouldn't need a new one, go ahead and thank her when you have the time."

I quickly put my clothing on. Boyd then showed up exclaiming with a smirk, "You should get some armor if you keep planning on getting hit by archers!"

"What about you, Boyd?" I challenged with a sarcastic grin. "You get hit once and you're down, ya big softie!"

Boyd just ignored what I said, moving on to another subject. "Mist and Rolf got your stuff ready for you while you were snoozing." He then tossed a sack to me, which I caught without hesitation. Then I looked around for a brief second or two. _Where's my sword?_

As I thought to myself, Oscar and Boyd left, probably to find Rolf. As I was left alone, I felt a hesitant finger tap on my shoulder. I then heard a delicate voice say, "My-my lord….Matt."

I turned around to see everyone's favorite unknown princess, Elincia. "What happened to just Matt your royal cuteness?" I asked with a teasing smirk.

She blushed once more, but it dissipated quickly. "I cleaned your sword for you, my lo-…..Matt."

I smiled at how flustered she appeared to be. She handed me my sword, and it looked like new, didn't even show any damage or signs of use. I took it, strapping it to my back. I then said, "Thanks a lot, Princess Elincia! That's sweet of you." I then wrapped her in a quick hug, which she more than likely didn't expect. As I pulled away, she blushed. _It'll be too much fun messing with her. _

She then said, "I-I'm sorry…"

"Something up?" I asked with a smirk.

"I… was raised in a villa, and my life was made a secret to Crimea. I know not of…acts of friendship. I don't know of the citizenry and their behavior..." She explained herself.

"I see. Well, if you're gonna be running this country, I could probably show you the ropes about us simple folk!" I said grinning.

"Thank you so much, my l-Matt." She said with a graceful bow.

"Elincia!" I shouted in mock exasperation.

"Ahh! M-Matt?" Elincia nearly stumbled, looking at me with those hazel eyes. _Gah her eyes! She's so darn cute! She's for sure a keeper._

"You don't have to bow to me!" I said in a joking tone.

"I-I'm sorry…" was all she said.

"Elincia!" I resumed my shouting.

"Wh-what now?" she asked, this time smiling.

"Oh, nothing." I said absent-mindedly.

"If you would excuse me then…" Elincia left to do whatever princesses do when they're stuck with a group of mercenaries.

"You alright, Matt?" I heard Ike ask me. _You don't have to do much to get attention here._

"Yep! Never been better. We leaving soon or what?" I asked in a carefree tone.

"That's right; we'll leave within the hour." Ike started. "Titania, Shinon, and Gatrie are ahead securing a path for us."

"Sounds good to me." I said.

A few minutes passed, and we left the fort and were on our way to Gallia. We all eventually caught up with the boss and Titania, along with a sniper that was in no mood to talk, and a blue-armored knight looking at us with a brief overconfident smirk. _Fun, fun. We're having ourselves a field trip!  
_

**(A/N): **Yay for field trips! I'm feeling pretty good about this chapter. I was afraid in the earlier chapters my OC seemed like a total Gary-Stu, which wasn't what I was aiming for at all. He's only human, he's not someone who can do anything and everything *cough* Micaiah *cough* in the very beginning!

Err, to any Micaiah fan, I mean no offense. But in Radiant Dawn, she's just….too good to be true, character-wise and all. Anyways….

Can't thank you guys enough for reading! Please review, tell me what you liked and disliked about this chapter! I love getting reviews, they keep me going! Peace out, and keep warm this season (if it's cold where you are)! :)


	6. Chapter 6: Gallia

**(A/N): **Hey everyone. I know I haven't updated in a good while. I've been busy with work up until now. The place I worked at had just told me that they can't afford to keep me with them. So I'm out of a job. It was my first job, and I feel so broken up about it. I'll be back to busting my butt applying everywhere again…In the meantime, this might mean I'll have chapters up more quickly.

Thanks to:

**Cazcappy, **

**PINKDIAMOND4000, **

**nomey1, **

**Kamai-Rui, **

**Crizix, **

**Meru-64, **

**Windraider,**

**Shadow Dragon,**

And everyone who has read and favorited my story.

Okay, let's just get this out of the way..

_**Chapter 6: Gallia**_

We've been on our pleasant trip to Gallia since last night. After stopping to rest, we entered into a forest. By now, we should be right at the border between Crimea and Gallia. The area around was covered in various shades of green, with trees, trees, and more trees. The air was absolutely humid and I wiped some sweat off of my forehead. We stopped early about noon to take a break from all of the walking. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was humid?

As we took a break, Gatrie was the first to speak. "Blazes, why does it have to be so blamed humid? If we weren't being chased, I'd strip off this armor here and now!"

Titania replied, "Then I'm almost glad that we ARE being pursued. I suppose you'll have to grin and bear it, won't you?"

After sighing, our favorite heavy-armored knight said, "Hmm, I suppose I will."

Titania continued, "Right. So enough of your griping. You're merely wasting energy. Still, this heat is appalling."

I nodded with a smirk. "That's the price we pay for goin' to Gallia, I guess." I started. "I'm just glad our pursuers haven't caught up." Stretching I then let a huge yawn escape from me.

I left Titania to speak about important mercenary stuff with Greil, Gatrie, Shinon, Ike, and his little mage-friend Soren.

I ran my hand through my hair, seeming to be caked in sweat. I heard a voice to my right say, "My lord—..." As I was about to interrupt Elincia, she corrected herself. "Matt." _Nice save._

"Hey there, royal cuteness!" I said with a smile.

"How are you feeling?" the princess kindly asked with a small smile, after blushing for a quick second.

"Well, I'm hanging in there. This humidity sure is something, though." I answered with a smirk. I then said, "I should be asking how you're doing, princess."

"I'm doing better than one would think, I suppose." She then pulled out a small cloth and handed it to me. "Here, you're looking…..wet."

"Aww that's sweet of you!" I said, smiling big. I then wiped my forehead of the sweat, and offered it back to her. She shook her head no, slightly giggling. She forced my hands with her handkerchief back against my face with her hands covering mine.

"Oh no…. you keep it, Matt!" She said in between soft "Heehee's" and "haha's".

"Thanks." I said with gratitude and a smirk.

"You're welcome…" I then looked down and realized her hands were softly holding my right hand. She then took her hands off mine and appeared flustered, blushing a light red on her face. She hid her face, looking embarrassed. "I—I'm sorry."

I kept a smirk at the princess saying, "I wasn't gonna object to you holding my hand." I then gave her a wink.

She reacted by blushing even more and stuttering. "I….I…Umm…" _Adorable, haha._

"You're too much fun, Princess Elincia." I said with a goofy expression. She had a curious look on her face in reaction to what I said. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Elincia started. "That was just the first time you referred to me as 'Princess Elincia.'"

"I guess I have no manners or politeness, sorry. If you prefer it, I can just call you by your royal title." I said with mock concern.

"No, that's not necessary, Matt." She started. "Besides, that's how the 'simple folk' refer to each other, right? Just by your name?"

"Yeah, but you're the princess. Wait, my name for you isn't princess anyways! It'll always be your royal cuteness!" I finished, wanting to mess with her some more.

Elincia reacted by blushing, but when does she not blush when I'm around? "I believe Lord Ike wishes to speak to you, Matt."

I then spotted Ike behind me with another one of his serious expressions. "Matt, it's time we started moving again. Daeins are preventing us from moving on to Gallia, according to the Commander." _They never wanna make this easy._

"My father, Shinon, and Gatrie will be taking on the main force of Daeins. That way, the rest of us will be able to escort Princess Elincia to Gallia." Ike then looked over to Elincia and nodded.

Then everyone in our group of heroes approached me. Everyone looked ready, well most of them. Soren didn't look at all thrilled, no surprise there. Rhys looked frightened, as he always did during fights. Mist and Rolf were also here, looking slightly nervous.

We all reached the edge of the forest in a few minutes. I spotted a good amount of soldiers, just standing there waiting.

Ike broke the silence saying, "So they're waiting for us after all…"

Soren replied with a nod and said, "There are...more of them than I'd imagined there would be. I thought they would have been spread out across the forest border... I didn't expect to see so many in one place."

"Do we rethink our strategy?" Ike asked.

"No, we've already split up. It's too late to reconsider now." Soren said. Ike looked to be in doubt.

"Ike." I interrupted. "Soren's our strategist for a good reason. We can't fail, not with his brain and our strength." I said with a smirk. _Didn't mean to stand for Soren, but maybe we'll get along in the future. _

"Quite the confident one, huh?" Ike asked with a sad smile on his face. "Matt's right, we can't lose this. We have no choice."

Soren looked at me with that face devoid of emotion, and looked back at Ike with a nod.

"Okay…" Ike then went back to the trial at hand. "Isn't there some way we can at least get the princess, Mist, and Rolf to the far shore safely?"

Soren observed our surroundings for a minute and then spoke. "There are two bridges... This thicket extends to the edge of the westernmost bridge. If we can use the trees as cover, we might be able to reach the bridge undetected. From there, we can launch a surprise attack."

"We'll be creating a diversion, right?"

"Correct. While we keep the enemy's attention, the princess and the others can cross the bridge to safety."

"We've no time for discussion. That's the plan we go with." Ike said with determination.

Elincia then but in. "My lord Ike, I... I will fight with you!" _Pretty darn brave, for a princess._

"No, you won't." Ike said without hesitation.

"My lord?" asked Elincia with some surprise.

"I cannot let you expose yourself to danger of any kind. Everyone here is risking his life to ensure your safety. If you understand that, you'll cooperate and do as I ask."

"Despite how helpful you might be in a fight," I started, "we can't risk you getting hurt."

"I see... I will do my part." To what she said, I gave a short wink and a thumbs-up.

Titania saw her opportunity to speak. "It's settled then."

"Right! Let's break through their lines!" Ike said with even more determination. _You're quite the hero, eh Ike?_

At that, Mist and Rolf showed up, around the time Ike wanted to speak with them.

"Mist! Rolf! Take care of the princess. Do not let yourselves be seen!"

"Right! Be careful, everyone!" Mist said, trying to sound really brave. _These poor kids, they shouldn't be dealing with this war stuff. Heck, even Ike and I are young for this mess, but we're fighting. We'll pull through, I'm sure of it._

"Leave it to us, Ike! We'll just pretend it's a game of hide-and-seek." Rolf started with a smirk. "And I never lose at hide-and-seek!" He then shot a thumbs-up toward us.

"We're depending on you guys." I said with a smile. Mist and Rolf nodded and went back into the woods, along with Elincia.

"Everyone ready?" Ike asked us all. We all gave out a nod to answer him. "Let's go!"

We all then started to move through the edge of the forest towards the Daein soldiers. Ike snuck behind an unsuspecting soldier and cut him down with a swift stroke of his sword. At that, another soldier found us out and ran towards Ike. Soren quickly chanted out a wind spell that sliced through the soldier.

Ike, Oscar, and Soren went for the bridge to our left. That left Titania, Boyd, Rhys and I to the bridge to our right. An archer aimed an arrow toward Rhys. In response, I pushed the frail priest out of the archer's range. Boyd quickly brought the enemy down with his axe.

Not a moment passed, and an enemy myrmidon ran over my way. He swung his sword, which looked to be heavy for him, and missed me when I stepped back. He went down with his seemingly heavy sword, bringing it back up with both of his hands. As he was busy regaining his stance, I quickly unsheathed my steel sword and slashed at his back. He screamed in pain, as I shoved him off of the bridge, into the river underneath. We all then passed through the short bridge.

Boyd and Titania didn't seem to have problems, since most of the Daeins we are fighting are lancers. That was to my disadvantage, but these guys wouldn't stand a chance. I ran toward a knight in heavy armor. He thrust his lance, aiming for my torso. I ducked out of his range, and slashed at his armor, which didn't seem to do a thing. He then tried another thrust, but the attempt was in vain when I sidestepped to the left. He then brought a fist to my stomach. I was taken aback, coughing. He then tried yet another thrust with his lance. I rolled out of the way, and brought my hands up to his armor, giving me a short boost. I quickly jumped over the unsuspecting knight, and stabbed at a small gap in the back of his armor. I didn't look back, as I knew he couldn't put up any more of a fight.

Titania then stopped her horse right by me. She asked, "Matt, why don't you ride along with me? We will ride on ahead and deal with the leader."

I nodded in response. "Sounds like a plan, I'm in." I then jumped up and rode with her. We rode at a steady pace, passing through Boyd finishing off a soldier. Ike, Soren, Oscar, and Rhys were still behind, fighting off knights and a mage. As I switched back to observing where we were riding, I saw Titania swing her axe, killing off a soldier. A second soldier threw his javelin at me. I ducked my head, feeling some of my hairs getting sheared off as it narrowly missed me. _Okay, that was too close!_

As Titania finished off the lancer with the javelin, I immediately jumped off, using the gravity to swing with greater force on what looked to be the leader. He had red hair, looked like a seasoned soldier, and held a spear. As I landed, my sword clashed with his spear. He then swung his spear upward, trying to hit my neck. I brought my sword back upward, parrying his blow. I then swung my left foot to his side. He held his ground, even when I kicked with some force. He then brought his fist to my face. Before he could hit me, I used my free hand to stop the blow.

After exchanging blows for a few moments, we stepped back from each other, breathing heavy. He then threw his spear in my direction. I rolled to the right, avoiding the potentially harmful impact. All of a sudden, Ike stabbed the leader from behind. _Finally! You guys took long enough._

The lancer then took his last breath as he fell to the ground lifeless blood gushing from Ike's wound. _How dramatic._ I sighed heavily as I was getting back up. I sheathed my sword, and looked over to Ike. He was talking with Mist, Elincia, and Rolf, who had just caught up with us.

After speaking with some of the company, Ike called my name. I walked over to Ike, who was still talking to Elincia, Mist, and Rolf. I gave a smirk to them before asking, "What's up?"

Ike had another one of his serious looks, as always. "The rest of the company is going to find Gatrie, Shinon, and the commander. But I have something else for you, Matt."

"And what would that be?"

"Would you go with Princess Elincia, Mist, and Rolf to the King of Gallia? I'm sure they would be fine on their own, but I just want to be absolutely sure they will be safe."

"Yeah, I guess I can do that Ike." I simply said, stretching my arms out. "What does Titania think?"

Titania then showed up and said, "We don't know for sure if there are any Daeins in Gallia. But if there are, it's best if you go to protect the princess, as well as Mist and Rolf."

"Better safe than sorry, huh Deputy Commander?" I asked, nudging her with my elbow with a smirk. "I'll do it."

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "You all stay safe!" Titania said with a small smile. Ike just nodded with that same serious expression.

I then stared at Ike with an even sterner look. I then put on a huge frown, following up with sticking my tongue out. At this, Elincia laughed, along with Mist and Titania. Ike just shook his head, sighing.

"Ugh..." Ike muttered out in frustration. "You're a great fighter Matt, but why are you such a…goof?"

"It's just who I am!" I said with a smile. "You need to be able to have a good time, in any situation!"

Ike just looked to me with his famous look of seriousness. "You guys stay alive."

"We'll see you soon." Titania said.

"All right. Titania... Please take care of my brother. Promise?" Mist said with worry.

"You have my word on it." Titania answered with a small smile.

A few minutes passed, and after Elincia spoke with Rhys and gave him some staff, we were on our way, further into Gallia. _Here's to our trip. I hope you guys know the way to the lion king's place, I sure don't._ _Haha._

**(A/N): **There it is. Reviews are very much appreciated. I'll have the next chapter up whenever. Hopefully in the next week or so. I just need to take some time to recuperate. Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas. For those who don't celebrate Christmas, happy (insert your holiday here) and happy New Year. See ya.


	7. Chapter 7: Fall of a Commander

**(A/N): **Heya guys. I'm still taking time to recuperate from my recent job loss. How have I been dealing? I'm applying at every nearby place possible, working out, and writing. Yay for the writing and working out part. Boo for job-searching. Anyways….

Thanks to:

**Cazcappy (assistant editor)**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Crizix (editor in chief)**

**PINKDIAMOND4000**

**Meru-64**

**barefootbean**

**nomey1**

**Windraider**

**Kamai-Rui**

**Shadow Dragon**

**GamerKnight**

and everyone who has read and favorited.

*Yawn* Onward.

_**Chapter 7: Fall of a Commander**_

We've been walking for some time in Gallia. It was pretty quiet, and no laguz were in sight. And thankfully, no Daein soldiers, either. Mist and Rolf seemed to lead the way. It was weird, me seeming to chaperone everyone, while the two youngest walked in front of us. But, I sure didn't know the way to the castle. As far as I knew, the princess didn't know. Mist looked to be slightly nervous. To serve as some form of comfort, Rolf grabbed and held her hand. _Nice going, Rolf, haha._

As I saw that, I noticed Elincia kept to herself, although walking next to me. She didn't seem to pay attention to Mist or Rolf, just looking around at the scenery.

"Could you do a little favor for me, Princess Elincia?" I asked with a smile.

"Y-Yes, Matt?" she asked, looking unsure.

"Could you hold something for me?"

"I don't know…can I?"

"Haha, you got me! May you hold something for me?"

"Ummmm…sure." She replied, holding out her hand. To react, I grabbed her hand softly, and hung on to it. She blushed in embarrassment, only saying, "M-My lo—Matt…."

I smirked, looking into her hazel eyes. "Yeah?"

"N-nothing..."

We kept up our pace, and the princess didn't say anything about holding hands with me. After a short amount of time, we reached a rather large castle. _Must be the king's castle._ Elincia motioned for me to let go of her hand, and we both took the lead. We then met up with a laguz in human form. He had his eyes slightly covered by a headband, showing off his tiger-like ears. He wore a sleeveless brown shirt, revealing some muscle tone. He had a look of distrust, judging by his stance. The guard looked to be ready to transform and rip us apart at any second.

"You!" he shouted, pointing at me. "What is your business here, beorc?"

"Hey there." I said with some nervousness. As I was about to speak, Princess Elincia took the front.

"My name is Elincia, and I am the princess of Crimea." She started, with as much grace as possible. "My father, King Ramon, requested I came here to seek refuge from the king of Gallia."

"Hmm…." The guard muttered in thought. "Do you have any proof of your identity?"

"I-I have nothing, sir. I had so little time before being escorted by the Royal Knights from Daeins." She said. _I don't think her fancy orange dress will say anything._

"She has been driven out of her homeland by Daeins," I came to the rescue. "And they continue to hound her every step. Is there any proof in that?"

After a moment of concentrated thought, the guard gave in. "I will let you four in. However you will have guards in your presence, at all times."

"Actually, I was just here to escort Elincia. If you don't need me for anything, I'll be heading back to my 'fellow employees'."

"Me and Rolf will be here for a little longer, but we'll catch up with you." Mist said.

"You sure?"

"If it means a lot to you," a laguz in his human form showed up said, "I'll bring them to you and your friends."

"And you are?"

"My name is Ranulf, and I serve King Caineghis of Gallia." He said. He had light-blue hair, with a brown headband on. "Like I said, I can take them back to you guys."

"Nice to meet you, Ranulf. My name is Matt, and we," I pointed out to Mist, Rolf and myself, "are part of the Greil Mercenaries." As I finished, I offered my hand to Ranulf, which he shook briefly.

"Hmm. You're quite nice for a beorc. Most beorc I have seen are quick to shy away from what you call us 'sub-humans'."

"It makes no difference if I'm a beorc and you're a laguz. We were created equal, and we need to treat each other that way." I said in a kind tone.

"Ha! I like you, Matt! Let me shake your hand again!" Ranulf said and took my hand to shake a second time.

After a good laugh, I said, "I'll be on my way now. You watch over Mist, Rolf, and of course her royal cuteness: Princess Elincia."

"No worries, I'll do that. We'll be sure to meet again, Matt!" Ranulf said in a friendly tone.

"Alrighty then. See you when I see you."

"Please be careful, Matt." Elincia said with small concern. Mist and Rolf nodded with the same worry as the princess.

"You gonna miss me, my royal cuteness?" I asked with a smirk. Before she could reply, I gave her a quick hug. As I pulled away, she blushed. "Bye, princess. Mist, Rolf, I'll see you when I get back."

At what I said, they all nodded with small smiles. I waved my hand, and turned around to start my little road trip back to meet up with Ike and pals. Hopefully the commander, Shinon, and Gatrie are with them. A little bit of walking, and I made it back to where we met up with those Daein soldiers, trying to keep us from entering into Gallia. I was unsure if there would be any reinforcements, so I kept in the thicket so I wouldn't be seen. Suddenly I felt something really hard and really heavy hit the back of my head. _Dang it I never saw them!_ Then consciousness faded from my grasp and I succumbed to the darkness.

**(Random Daein Soldier's POV)**

This guy hadn't seen it coming. I've seen this guy with those other mercenaries, but he won't be seeing his pals for a long, long time! I was left with a small troop of soldiers, a total of four. We were ordered to stay here in case any of the mercenaries were stupid enough to show their face around here.

"Well done, sir!" one of my soldiers congratulated me as the rest of my troop met back with me.

"You were expecting less from me, fools?" I questioned with a smirk. "Come; let's drop this guy at Fort Meritenne. General Petrine will have a question or two for him."

"Right away, sir!" one of my soldiers answered without hesitation. They tied the kid up, and lifted him.

We spent the next several minutes taking him to the fort. We entered the fort, disarmed him, and locked him up in a room with a purple-haired girl whom we had captured before.

**Matt's POV**

I opened my eyes, to see four dark walls surrounding me. There was little light that I could use to see, from what must have been a torch lit outside of this room. I heard a noise in my room, I wasn't alone.

"Hey there, you don't look like an army mercenary! Who are you?" a purple-haired girl my age walked up to me. She had an orange shirt that went slightly below her waist, with black leggings and a white hair-band nestled in her short purple hair.

"My name is Matt; I'm a member of the Greil Mercenaries." I introduced myself.

"My name is Mia, and I was hired to bolster Crimea's army's numbers. It's nice to meet you, though I would have preferred if it was under better circumstances." She said with some humor.

"An army mercenary? You look a little young to be fighting."

"You kidding me? I'm eighteen! I was about to say the same about you! How old are you? Sixteen? Seventeen?" she asked with piqued interest.

"I'm eighteen." I answered.

"You're no bigger than me, except those things you call arms!" she said, not hesitating to feel my bicep. She lightly giggled and said, "You're kinda cute! Can I keep you?"

"Keep me?" I said with a brief laugh.

"Like a brother, silly!" Mia answered with a bright smile.

"Sure thing, Mi—Sis."

As I had said that, we heard someone knock around soldiers outside of our room. The soldiers didn't sound like they were dealing with their adversary very well. Our door got quickly knocked down, revealing our savior, Commander Greil. He was holding a huge axe, motioning for us to get out.

"Long time, no see, Greil," I said with a smirk.

"I don't know what you're doing here Matt, but you best get out of here." Greil said with seriousness.

"Gotcha." I replied, stepping outside of our prison with Mia. I found my steel sword, along with two smaller-looking swords. I toss those over to Mia, who caught them and sheathed one of them, holding the other with her hand.

I sheathed my sword and ran to the other side of the fort, Mia following. As we stepped through a walkway, we saw more Daein soldiers. We stepped back into the darkness.

"Uh-oh. More Daein soldiers. Now, where could that exit be…." Mia wondered out loud.

"Someone else is fighting, Mia." I said, looking outside of the darkness for a brief moment. I stepped back to Mia. "That's Greil's son, Ike. Let's go meet up with him, and finish this fight!"

"Sounds good to me!" Mia said excitedly.

We stepped back into the big room. I snuck behind a nearby archer, aiming for Boyd. Before he fired an arrow, I stabbed him from behind through the stomach. He fell down, lifeless. I looked to my left, seeing Mia kill a soldier Ike was fighting with. I nodded over to Ike, as Mia spoke to mister blue-hair. He nodded back, and quickly finished speaking with her.

I ran over towards Ike while Mia was fighting other Daein soldiers alongside Oscar and Boyd. I simply summarized my mission given by Ike. "Mission accomplished. Mist and Rolf will meet up with us eventually." He nodded, and motioned for me to follow him.

We went back to the fighting, as I spotted Titania killing off a mage. Behind Titania was Soren, casting a wind spell, cutting right through a knight. Rhys was behind Soren, ready to heal when necessary. Ike and I ran to protect Soren and Rhys. A lancer ran over my way, and threw his javelin, aiming for my chest. As I ducked from the spear, Titania threw a well-aimed hand axe, killing the soldier.

"Nice one, Titania!" I said grinning. Then we moved to the north, where there were armored knights slowly marching over our way. I waited for one of the knights to bring the fight to me. As he finally came within several feet from me, I swung my steel sword with as much strength and speed as possible at the knight's helmeted head. As I hit his head, the helmet flew off of his head. The knight quickly reacted by swinging his lance, which hit my shoulder. I dropped to my knees, in pain. Soren then casted a fire spell that went right through the knight's armor, burning him alive. Rhys rushed to my side, raising his staff to heal me.

As I looked to my left, Ike was fighting the other knight. The knight seemed to be getting the upper hand in the fight. Out of nowhere, a lance went right through the enemy. The knight fell over, revealing Gatrie who ran his lance through a lancer that had tried to get him by surprise. Gatrie looked over to us with a confident smile.

As we kept moving forward, we met with Mia and the others. We saw Greil, running over towards a paladin with a flaming red lance. Ike ran over, speaking with his dad. After a minute, Greil ran out of the room, with the seasoned paladin following him. _That was eventful._

Anyways, we brought the fight to some caped mage with light blue hair. He didn't look very happy to see us, as he casted a huge fireball our way. We all jumped out of the way, with the exception of Oscar and Titania, who rode from the impact. As we got back up, we saw that Rhys was the only one standing, not looking to be in any pain at all from the spell. He quickly dusted his robes off in case he had any flames on him.

"Why is everyone looking at me like that?" Rhys asked with a smirk.

"Ummmm..nothing." I said, dismissing what had just happened.

As we all got up, the mage conjured up another fire spell. Before he could fire it, Shinon appeared from behind Rhys and fired an arrow at the guy's head. He fell down, blood seeping from where the arrow sunk into his forehead.

We all then ran to the room where Greil was. He was breathing heavily from fighting the woman on the horse. I was behind the rest of the group, with Mia.

"So… are we just watching our boss fight?" Mia asked me with a curious look on her face.

"Yeah. I think so," I answered unsure.

As Greil was speaking with that crazy-looking lady, we looked behind us to see soldiers. We looked to the left, and then to the right. We were outnumbered and surrounded.

"This should be fun," Mia said with excitement, raising her sword.

I lowered her arm with my hand. "Mia, not yet." I said, smirking at Mia's excitable attitude.

A moment passed, and no one made a move. Then we've heard roars outside of the fort. _This sounds good._ Then we saw laguz fighters, some in tiger and cat form, killing Daein soldiers by biting into their necks. _Out for blood fellas?_ In reaction, the other soldiers started panicking. The leader of the laguz fighters reverted to human form. _Hey, it's Ranulf! _

"Now?" Mia asked with excitement.

"Goodness, Mia! I think it's all over." I answered after a short laugh.

The crazy lady on a horse didn't budge an inch. Then, some guy in black armor showed up. He must've had something to do with the general, I think I heard Soren call her Petrine.

"Withdraw, General Petrine." The armored knight commanded her.

"Pssst. Matt, this is boring!" Mia whispered to me, nudging my arm.

"Well, I think we should wait for something else to happen, Mia."

"Matt, would you spar with me?"

"Later, Mia." I started. "We should probably be listening."

Mia sighed, but remained silent.

When my dialogue with Mia ended, General Petrine and her troops retreated. The guy with the black armor was still standing by. He was staring at Greil for a short moment. _Okay, awkward moment…. _Then, the big guy in the ebony armor left.

As the knight retreated, we left the fort. We were all reunited with Mist, Rolf and… Elincia? W_hy did I escort her then? Oh wait…requesting Gallian support, must be…. Great idea!_

I left Mist and Elincia to speak with Greil, Ike, and Ranulf. Although I was tempted to mess around with the princess some more.

"I can't believe Ike let you go on without someone to watch your back, Matt." Boyd said, slapping my back.

"Not like I missed much," I said with a smirk.

"You didn't miss a thing, Matt." Oscar said.

I grinned as Boyd and Oscar went over to speak with their little bro.

I then walked over to Mia, who was speaking with Rhys.

As I approached, Mia exclaimed, "Heya there, Matty!"

"Matty?" I questioned.

"You're cute, so I needed a cute name for you!"

"Okay then." I said with a small smirk on my face.

"How's your shoulder, Matt?" Rhys asked with slight concern.

"It's fine," I said, smirking while moving my entire arm around. "Functional."

_A few hours later_

After some time speaking about Gallian issues and such, Elincia and Ranulf went back to see the king, I suppose. As the two left, the rest of us traveled to a fort further into Gallia. Most of the Greil Mercenaries were in bed. But I had told Mia I would spar with her….

I was resting on my bed, minding my own business, when Mia raced into my room with two swords for sparring and a big grin on her face. She grabbed me and pulled me by the arm to the ground, without saying a word.

She pulled and dragged me while I was on the ground. "Gimme a sec, will you?" I asked, getting off the ground with a yawn.

"Oh, sorry…." Mia said in an apologetic tone.

I got up, took one of her practice swords, and ran outside. I heard her footsteps right behind me, and then passed me. She didn't even ask if I was ready, as she swung her practice sword at me. I brought my sword at hers and she jumped back, ready to launch another attack. I faked a swing at her right and then brought my sword to her side. Mia reacted by jumping back, and attempted a stab at my chest.

After a long time of hits and misses, we stopped. We both tried to get our breath back, sitting on the ground.

"You're pretty good, Matt!" Mia said with a smile. "I think you got me though. But you won't be so lucky next time!"

I was breathing a lot heavier than Mia, although I tried to silence it so she wouldn't notice. I was stronger than her, but she was a bit faster. "That's the spirit, Mia." I said in between breaths.

I got up, and then offered a hand to Mia. She took my hand as I pulled her up. We then walked back inside the fort. I let out a yawn and said, "Alright Mia, let's spar another time. But for now, I'm going to bed."

"Alright, Matt. I'll be off to bed as well. Goodnight!"

"G'night."

Out of nowhere, we heard a roar from the outside. Everyone ran outside in reaction. Mia and I looked at each other in confusion and just followed them. After a moment of running, we saw Ike, holding his father in his arms. Greil was…. dead.

We all looked to the now dead commander, who had a gaping wound in his torso. _What could've happened? I might have been able to protect him…._

"Boss…." I muttered.

**(A/N): **That would be chapter 7.Reviews are very much appreciated. And hugs. ;D

So, my OC's friendship with Mia is based on my real-life relationship with a certain friend of mine. I've known her for years, and we refer to each other as a brother and sister. We're always seen giving each other a hard time and causing trouble for our friends. We're just awesome like that.

Well, 'till next time! :)


	8. Chapter 8: Mercs, under New Management

**(A/N): **Heya guys. Just wanted to say I won't be updating nearly as much as I want to. I'm back in college. This semester I'm taking four classes, and what sucks is I need to be on campus for all of the classes, five days a week. Yeah, it's lame.

Thanks to:

**cazcappy (editor)**

**crizix (editor in chief)**

**barefootbean**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**GamerKnight**

**nomey1**

**PINKDIAMOND4000**

**Meru-64**

**Windraider**

**Kamai-Rui**

**Everyone who has read and favorited/subscribed, I love you all. :)**

_**Chapter 8: Greil Mercenaries, under new Management**_

**(Matt's POV)**

"This is ridiculous," started an angry Shinon. "There is NO way I'm staying if that whelp is going to be the new commander!"

It was the night of Commander Greil's death. Ike and Mist were finished mourning for their loss, and Shinon was in a rage while Boyd, Oscar and I tried to convince Shinon and Gatrie to stay with us. Clearly, we weren't doing much to make them stay. Gatrie didn't have anything to say, he seemed like he didn't want to go against our words, or his friend's.

"Is there anyway we can keep you with us, Shinon?" Oscar asked.

"No way," Shinon said, turning his back. "I'm outta here. Gatrie, you comin'?"

"Wait, Gatrie!" I said with desperation. "You don't have to leave just because your buddy is!"

"I….. I…" As I waited for a reply, Gatrie turned around and followed Shinon, out of Gallia.

"Damn!" Boyd shouted in frustration. His older brother put his hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"We'll be alright, somehow. They were a big help for us, but just because they're leaving doesn't mean we won't pull through," Oscar said, in that same calm, composed tone he always has.

Boyd just sighed in reply. I nodded to Oscar, agreeing with what he said. "Let's go back inside and let Titania know what's up," I said in a tired voice. We then made our way back to the fort where the Greil Mercenaries were staying.

As we all stepped inside, Titania was waiting for us, as well as Soren.

"We're back," was all Oscar said.

"How did it go," Titania asked us.

"I can't believe it! They just left, and they didn't take one look back! Heartless scum! I'll never forgive them!" Boyd said in an outrage. As Boyd finished, Ike walked up to us.

"Boyd? What's going on?" Ike asked with a frown.

"Ike, you okay?" I asked our new boss with concern.

"I'm fine," Ike started in his same blunt tone. "Tell me what's happened. Start talking." He finished, looking at us three.

"Well, uh, it's... What I mean to say is... Uh..." Boyd said, but couldn't bring himself to let him know what's happened with Shinon and Gatrie.

"Shinon and Gatrie have left us," Soren said with no emotion. Since Gatrie and Shinon weren't in our company, Soren came up with the accurate conclusion.

"Soren!" Boyd said with frustration.

"What? There's nothing to hide, is there?" Soren asked with no look of surprise.

"They left? Both of them?" Ike questioned. We answered with a nod. "Why did they- Oh, I see. They left because of me, didn't they?" _No need to be putting yourself down, Ike._

"Ike..." Titania sounded like she felt sorry for him.

"Titania told us you were going to be the new commander. Shinon just about exploded... He and Gatrie left not long ago," Boyd explained for us.

Oscar picked up where his brother left off. "We went after them. We tried to talk things out, but it was a waste of time."

"We all knew that Ike was going to inherit command of the company, didn't we? It just happened sooner than we wanted. It was Greil's decision. If some of us aren't satisfied with that, there's no reason we should stop them from leaving. As far as losing fighting strength is concerned, we can solve that by adding new members," Soren said. _I'm not surprised that he said that. Not one bit._

Boyd looked like he would have punched Soren right there. "How can you say that? After all the battles we've been through together, how can you say that?" I put out my arm in front of Boyd if he was gonna go after Soren.

I sighed and said, "Boyd, chill. We all should, at a time like this. There's no need to go at each others' throats." _I'd love to hit Soren, Boyd. But he has his uses, where else would we get another mage?_

"Forgive me, Ike. I wasn't able to stop any of this..." Titania apologized with a big frown on her face.

"It's not your fault, Titania. They did what they felt they had to do. They didn't want to lose their lives to an inexperienced commander."

"Ike! Don't talk about yourself like that."

"I'm not saying that to gain anyone's pity. It's the truth. But even so, I have no intention of giving up command of this company."

"This sounds good," I chimed in with a confident smile.

"Ike? Then what will you—"

"I'm going to follow my father's wishes. I'm going to assume command. If everyone will accept me, that's what I'd like to do."

"Of course!" Titania said with determination.

"I'd already made up my mind. That's what I was going to do all along," Oscar said.

"What, so now you want me to start calling you Boss? Is that it? Well, I can do that. Boss it is," Boyd said with a thumbs-up.

All of a sudden, Rhys showed up and added, "I'm in, too."

"Rhys!" Ike said in surprise.

"Mist's asleep. I know I missed most of the conversation, but I have a good idea of what you've been discussing. Commander Ike... Yes, it does have a nice ring to it."

"Matt?" Ike wanted to see if I would stay.

"You couldn't possibly think about going on without me, Boss!" I said with a grin.

"What about you, Soren?"

"...Ike. I'm not sure what help I could be to you. What place is there for me in a mercenary company, anyway?"

"You are so weird... I've always depended on you, haven't I? I need your tactical knowledge. I need your objectivity. You're not going to leave me, are you, Soren?"

"Don't worry. I'll be here, watching over you." Soren said with a tone of…..determination? _Whoa._

"Thank you. I know I'm not as experienced as most of you. I'm going to make some mistakes, but I'll try not to let you down."

"You better not, buddy." I said with a smile.

After a few seconds of silence, Boyd yawned, saying, "I'm gonna go hit the hay, guys."

"Same here," Oscar said. Rhys went back from where he came. _I could only imagine he'd be praying at a time like this._

"Goodnight, guys," I said, suppressing a great big yawn. I went back to my room, leaving Ike and Titania to speak in private.

A few hours later, I woke up in a sweat. I stretched, and proceeded to get off of my cot. I stepped out of my room and roamed for a minute or two. I imagined most, if not all, of the mercenaries were asleep at this hour.

I heard some footsteps, and Ike walked up to me.

"Hey there, Ike."

"Matt."

"I haven't asked you if you were alright before. You don't look fazed at all. It's not good to bottle up all of your emotions, ya know?"

"I.. just can't bring myself to tears, Matt. I need to be strong for Mist, and the entire company."

"There's nothing wrong with letting it out, Ike. You're hurting, and I know it." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"I… I gotta go," Ike dismissed himself by walking away.

_What a hard-hearted new leader we have. _

"Like father, like son," Titania said from behind. I turned around to see the Deputy Commander. Her face was a soft red, and her eyes looked moist. She wiped away any tears that were visible and sniffed.

"You seem to be taking this the hardest out of everyone," I said with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I would be lying if I said I'm feeling well…"

"Titania, I'm here for you. So is Ike, and everyone else." _I can't say anything for Soren, however. _"We all need to stick together, and we'll be fine. Greil always talked about all of us being a family. This is quite an awkward family if I've ever seen one, but I took what he said to heart. This is my family, outside of my parents in Crimea. I'll do anything to protect you guys."

"Thank you, Matt," Titania said with a sad smile.

After she said that, I let out another yawn and excused myself. "I'm going back to bed."

"Goodnight." I heard Titania say as I turned to go back to the room I stayed in.

Hours later, I felt someone consistently hit me in the chest. _Guess it's time to wake up._ I opened my eyes to see Mia hitting my chest with her clenched fists. I then realized how hard she could hit.

"Ouch!"

"You're finally up, Matt! C'mon, the boss asked me to wake you up! We've got a fight starting up, it's more Daeins!"

She stood up, and threw my sword to me. I caught it with my hands before it would hit me. I sheathed my sword, and hung my sheath over my back.

I ran to catch up with Mia, who was already outside. The battle was just about to ensue. I saw Ike, Boyd and Oscar guard the western entrance. Titania took the east, with Soren behind to cast magic without being able to get hit. Rhys stayed back, ready to heal if it was needed. Mia and I took the south entrance, and waited for the enemy to attack.

"You ready Matty?" Mia asked with a smile and a wink.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said. I then gave her a thumbs-up.

We saw horsemen ride toward us, several with axes, lances and swords. One of the horsemen rode full speed towards me, slashing with his sword. I ducked, and Mia jumped up and sliced his neck with her sword. The knight fell over dead, with his horse running around aimlessly.

As Mia landed, another knight attempted to hit her with his javelin. She jumped back from the potentially fatal blow. As she dodged, I hit the knight's mount with an upward swing of my sword. I ended up nearly cutting the knight's arm off. As he gasped in pain, he fell off of his mount. I ended his life with a stab to his chest.

An hour passed, and we were getting the upper hand. Then, the commander of the attacking Daeins marched toward Mia and I, lance in hand. He swung his lance at me, and I stepped back from the hit. I quickly swung my sword down as hard as I could at the knight's lance. There was a big clang, but I wasn't successful in disarming the knight. As the commander was busy with me, Mia was getting healed by Rhys from a minor wound from a horseman. I brought my sword back, feeling the rain continue to pour down on us.

The knight made an attempt to run me through with his lance. As he made a thrust, I brought my sword to parry the blow. A moment passed, and we didn't budge an inch. All of a sudden, I saw the knight get struck by lightning. _Soren? _I turned around to see a pale-haired girl with a yellow colored tome in her grip. She had a look of discomfort from the rain. I turned back to see the knight, lifeless.

"Ah, I missed it!" Mia yelled with some disappointment. I looked behind me to see the excitable myrmidon, sheathing her sword.

"This mage girl killed him," I said. Mia looked behind her, seeing no one.

"Hmph, I didn't see anyone!" Mia said with boredom.

Mia and I looked back at the southern entrance we covered. I widened my eyes to see multitudes of foot soldiers marching our way.

"More Daeins? C'mon," I muttered under my breath.

"Lemme at 'em!" Mia unsheathed her sword with a grin plastered on her face.

Despite how much of a fight we put up over the next hour, Mia and I had to pull back.

"I'm not finished yet!" Mia yelled at me as I had to drag her by the arm to retreat.

"Fall back, everyone!" Ike yelled out in command to all of us.

"We should probably listen to the boss this time, Mia." I said in between breaths.

We all met back at the entrance of the castle. Everyone was accounted for, including the mage I had seen before. She was shivering from the rain. _Poor thing. _

"We can't keep fighting these guys," Ike said in frustration.

"No Ike, we have to keep fighting if we want to make it out of here alive," Soren said in a serious-as-always tone.

Ike just nodded with a grunt. The Daeins continued to approach us. _I refuse to give up. We just need to hang on until help arrives. If we do get any help…_

Out of nowhere, I spotted a cat and tiger laguz rip several enemy soldiers apart. …_.What?_

They ran towards us, after dealing with the remaining soldiers. They transformed back to their human form, and spoke with Ike. After a few moments, they went inside of the castle.

The rest of us were free to do what we wanted, I suppose. Both Soren and Titania went to be with Ike and the two laguz who had saved us. Everyone else rested up after the battle, at least most of us were….

**(Mia's POV)**

"Matt!" I shouted with a smile. That fight earlier just makes me want to spar some more! As I approached the room where Matt was staying in, I accidentally bumped into a girl. She fell down, and I felt bad, for she looked to be sick. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" I asked, as I helped the girl back to her feet.

"Y-Yes…. I'm okay. I'm just…so…hungry…" the girl quietly said. She had really light purple colored hair. She was a little shorter than I was, wearing an outfit that looked like what a mage would wear. _Hmmm, was this the girl Matt was talking about?_

"Oh, I'm sure I can help you out! Let's go see where Oscar is!" I dragged the girl by the arm to where Oscar was. I smelled some cooking going on, so I know Oscar was going to be making us a delicious meal! As we progressed, I heard some monstrous growl. I could've sworn it was one of the laguz, but the sound came from right behind me.

"Was that you….umm.." I asked the girl I dragged along, when I realized I don't even know her name.

"Ilyana." She introduced herself.

"Righto, and my name is Mia, it's nice to meet you!"

She nodded in recognition. We then reached the kitchen, where Oscar was doing his whole cooking thing.

"Heya, Oscar! Ilyana is starving, and we wanted to know if what you were cooking was ready!"

"Hi, Mia! It's nice to meet you, Ilyana." Oscar introduced himself to the mage. "I still have to prepare the food, it might be a little while longer, I'm sorry."

"Oh, alright…." I muttered. "Maybe Matt has something to eat before dinner. C'mon, Ilyana!"

I continued to drag Ilyana around, until we reached Matt's room. I knocked on Matt's door, hoping he would immediately open up.

"One sec, I'll be right there!" I heard Matt say. After a few seconds, I've lost my patience. I opened the door, seeing Matt, who was in the middle of putting on a clean shirt on. _Gah, he's buff. Who knew my adopted bro would look like that?_

"Guess you couldn't wait any longer, Mia?" he said with a silly grin on his face. He looked behind me to see Ilyana. "Oh hey, it's you!"

"Hi, I'm Ilyana," was all she said, before making a moaning sound.

"Matt, quickly! Do you have any food on you? Oscar isn't finished with dinner yet, and this girl is starving!"

"Oh, sorry. I don't have anything on me, see if someone else does!" he said.

"Sorry, looks like he was a waste of time," I told Ilyana as we stepped out of Matt's room.

"I heard that!" yelled out Matt from his room. I just shook my head with a smile.

"Hmmm…. Maybe Soren has something you could eat?"

We made our way to Soren, who was standing outside of the kitchen. He looked to be writing something into a small book. _Maybe stuff about that last battle we had. _"Soren, feed this poor girl!" I lightly shoved Ilyana right to him.

"Wha…huh?" Soren said as he quickly caught her with an unoccupied hand.

"Are you deaf? Feed her!" I instructed.

"Dinner will be ready soon, Mia. It wouldn't make sense if I gave her something to eat before."

As he said that, Ilyana was moaning out of hunger again. Soren and I clearly heard her. I glared at Soren, until he caved in.

"….Fine. Let's go, your name is…?"

"Ilyana."

"Go, you little loverboy! Quit wasting time, she's starving!" I quickly dismissed myself to go see if Matt would be up for some sparring….

**(A/N): **Goodness, that's my eighth chapter, and I've broken 30 reviews. Oh woops, lemme correct myself: you guys did! Give yourselves a big pat on the back, you're all awesome! Until next time, everybody! :D


	9. Chapter 9: Greater Distance

**(A/N): **Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in some time. I've been really busy with my classes. And there was a virus that I caught that kept me in bed when I would normally write. Oh well. I'm not sick anymore. :D

Thanks to:

**Cazcappy (editor)**

**Crizix (editor in chief)**

**GamerKnight**

**Barefootbean**

**PINKDIAMOND4000**

**Windraider**

**Meru-64**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**Nomey1**

**Kamai-Rui**

**And everyone who has read. **

Onward!

_**Eyes of a Sellsword Chapter 9: Greater Distance**_

**(Matt's POV)**

This morning I had woken up early, for once. Yesterday was the hardest battle I've went through with the Greil Mercenaries. After that battle, I wasn't left alone. To my dismay, Mia had wanted to spar with me right after eating the dinner Oscar had made. She wouldn't leave me alone….

_Flashback_

"C'mon, Matt!" Mia kept pushing my buttons and begging me to spar with her tonight.

"I really don't wanna, Mia! Can't you spar with Ike, or someone else tonight?" I asked with a yawn.

"No way! You're my brother now, so we need to hold ourselves accountable when it comes to swordplay! Besides, you're so much better than Ike!"

_I think she's just trying to butter me up, but I'll spar with her…. I just hope she doesn't make this a habit. _

I let out a big sigh and said, "Fine, Sis. Let's do it…."

"Awesome! I love you, brother!" she exclaimed while hugging me. I hugged her back, and she retreated to her room to get some practice swords.

"_Hmmm. I wonder how Princess Elincia is doing." _I thought to myself. Boyd walked over to me, and slapped my back.

"Thinking about your girlfriend, Matt?" Boyd asked with a smirk.

"Who, Mia? She's not my girlfriend." I answered quickly.

"I wasn't talking about Mia, Matt. Everyone knows how she constantly refers to you as a brother." He started. "I'm talking about 'her royal cuteness'."

"Haha, Elincia?" I smiled for a quick second. Boyd laughed at the dreamy look on my face.

"Rolf told me how you two held hands and everything. There's no denying it, Matt. You don't even notice the look on your own face when I mentioned her? You look like you really wanna see her!"

"Yeah, I miss her. I also miss messing around with her, it's too much fun!" _I do like Elincia, but I shouldn't be thinking if she feels the same way at a time like this. _

As Mia walked back out of her room with a pair of swords for practicing, Boyd left without saying a word. "Were you and Boyd talking about your girlfriend, Matt? Isn't that Princess Elincia I've heard about your girlfriend?" she asked with a smile.

"She isn't my girlfriend-" I was interrupted by the excitable myrmidon.

"Yet! You're quite a guy, brother! There's no way she wouldn't like you, even if I don't know the princess!"

I couldn't help but put on a grin as Mia said that while we made our way outside. She tossed me a practice sword and asked, "You ready?"

"Ready!" I answered as she ran at me full force.

_End Flashback_

Mia had definitely beaten me last night. I was so tired after battling the Daeins, but clearly Mia didn't have enough, which explains why she kept asking to spar with me.

I got up out of my cot, and stretched out my arms. I was still feeling sore all over from the sparring, but I tried my best to ignore it. I stepped out of my room, ready to eat. As I made my way to where Oscar would be cooking, I passed by a laguz in human form. He had blue hair and blue markings on either sides of his face. I turned around so I could possibly talk to him. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned my way.

"Hey there, you must be one of the guys who saved our butts yesterday! I never properly thanked you," I said with a smile.

"Yes, King Caineghis sent me and Lethe to help you. I am Mordecai," he introduced himself. He looked like he was about to hold his hand out to shake, but he seemed to hesitate.

"My name is Matt; it's nice to meet you, Mordecai." I offered my hand to shake, which he gladly accepted.

"You are….kind, Matt. Ranulf had told me about you, as he told me about Ike. I hope we would be friends," the big tiger laguz said with a small grin.

"Of course!"

As I had said that, another laguz walked up next to Mordecai. She was a cat laguz with orange hair and purple eyes. She had a look of distrust as she glared at me.

"You better be careful around these hu—beorc, Mordecai! We're not here to make friends, we were ordered by King Caineghis to escort the mercenaries to him!"

"Lethe," Mordecai started, "these beorc aren't bad people. You should have realized that when we first spoke with Ike. I hope you would learn to get along with everyone here."

"Grrr….I'll never trust human scum, for the pain and persecution they caused to our ancestors! You will not earn my trust, or my friendship," the laguz named Lethe said as she pointed at me.

"Lethe, you are right about the things beorc have done to your ancestors. I'm sorry. But my apologies won't mean anything to you; they won't take back the bloodshed. I hope one day we would be friends, Lethe." I said with a small frown.

As a reaction to my words, Lethe just walked away saying, "I have much better things to do than to waste my time with beorc."

"Please forgive Lethe, Matt. She has always been this bitter toward beorc, and I do not know if she will ever change." Mordecai said to me with a frown.

"It's quite alright, Mordecai."

The tiger laguz then dismissed himself, probably to speak with Lethe about her behavior. _I guess I can't befriend all laguz so quickly. Mordecai and Ranulf are exceptions, however._

After eating whatever was left after Ilyana came to the kitchen, I walked outside. I heard someone step up to me from behind. I turned around and saw Ike. He wasn't looking very happy, but I hardly ever see a smile out of him.

"Matt."

"Boss."

"Matt, I'm unsure as to why my father had recruited you. But now that I'm the commander, you don't have to stay here with us. I'm nowhere near the commander that my father was, and I don't think I ever will be. You may leave, if you wish. I'm not stopping you."

"Oh my goodness, Ike! There's no way I'm leaving. I've been through too much with you guys, and I'm not throwing it away just like that! I'm not Shinon or Gatrie."

I heard Ike mutter "Thank goodness you're not them," under his breath. "Thank you, Matt. I'm glad you're staying with us. I couldn't possibly repay you."

"I can take Shinon and Gatrie's pay."

Ike furrowed his eyebrows at what I said.

"I'm just kidding, Ike!"

"I really hope you were kidding," Ike said with a small smile.

"I was, sir. Just keep their pay and go get yourself a wonderful cape or something!"

Ike just sighed and walked away, but not before I heard a soft laugh from him. _I made him laugh?_

In an hour, we were finally on the move to Gallia. Lethe and Mordecai both led the way for us. We kept moving for what seemed like hours, but none of us were complaining about it. Eventually, we came to a brief stop. To the right was a beach bordering a vast ocean of blues, and just ahead was a fort.

In the distance I could see Daeins marching right out of the fort. Some bandits just swam up to shore, as well. _We never get a break, huh?_

At that, we've made our preparations. According to Ike's plan Soren, Ilyana, Mia, Rhys, and I were to take the beach to the right. He wanted us to prevent any unneeded casualties of any citizens who may reside by the beach. Everyone else went along with Ike.

All of a sudden, we saw both Rolf and Mist catch up with Ike. Mist had a healing staff in her grasp. Rolf had a bow in his tight grip. _What could these guys possibly be doing? They can't fight with us!_

I saw them speak with Ike. After a few moments, Ike looked like he was letting them into the fray. Rolf stood behind his brothers, as Mist stood beside Ike. _Unbelievable. _

I dismissed my doubts, and started the march through the beach. A fighter with an axe ran right into me, with a poleax in his grip. As he swung at me, I ducked. Then I saw lightning strike him, along with a powerful wind spell. He immediately fell to the ground lifeless. I looked behind me to see Soren and Ilyana with tomes in their hands. Rhys had a nervous look on his face, gripping his healing staff tightly. Soren nodded as Mia and I took the front.

By the water was a pirate, who was making his way toward some houses in the distance. I walked up to him as silently as possible. I stabbed my sword right through him. He fell to the sandy beach with blood seeping from his back.

I ran to catch up with Mia, who was fighting a nearby bandit. She obviously had the upper hand, but she didn't pay attention to an enemy myrmidon slowly approaching her from behind. I sprinted; and as soon as I was close to the swordsman, I swung my blade at him. He wasn't aware of my presence, and I hit him right in his stomach. He grunted, falling to the ground. I quickly stabbed him so he wouldn't be causing Mia any trouble.

As I finished the myrmidon, Mia finished up fighting the bandit, stabbing his chest. I looked all around our location to see that there weren't any more Daeins. I then said in a commanding voice, "Mia, you warn the citizens of this house," as I pointed to the nearest one. "I'll take the one further down. Soren, Ilyana, you guys just stick around, and let us know if anyone else wants a fight."

I ran up to another house, which looked to be made of wooden material. I knocked on the door, and a laguz quickly opened the door. He looked to be surprised that a beorc has come knocking on his door.

"You're from Crimea, aren't you? I'm a warrior of the beast tribe. Lord Ranulf spoke of you," the laguz said to me.

"Yes indeed, I'm from Crimea. And I have met Ranulf before. He's quite a friendly guy," I said with a brief smile, thinking about my friend.

The laguz warrior just nodded, and continued. "Doubtless you have noticed that Daein forces have taken Fort Tatana. Watch your step around that bunch." _Uh-huh, already knew about the bad guys. Please go on. _

"There's a dangerous mage with them. We of the beast tribe find magic, and especially fire magic, particularly threatening. I am waiting for friends and cannot take leave of this house, but... I would give you this," he said, handing me a talisman.

"Hey, don't these slightly absorb magical attacks?" I asked myself more than the friendly laguz.

He nodded and said, "That is correct, beorc. I...hope for your success. I don't say this as often as I should to others, but you Crimeans have my full support."

"Well, thank you very much, sir."

He nodded in recognition and said; "Take care," before shutting the door and locking down the house. _He is quite the friendly laguz. I didn't even get his name…. _I shook it off, and put the talisman in my pocket.

I looked behind me to see Mia, Soren, and Ilyana fighting off pirates who must have just arrived. Rhys stepped up to me shouting, "Go, Matt!"

I quickly nodded, and sprinted. I jumped over the two mages, and landed a few feet from a pirate. I took my blade and hit the pirate's axe, which looked to be coated in some liquid. _Could that possibly be poison?_ The pirate kept a firm and steady grip on his axe, and didn't budge an inch. He swung his axe at my shoulder, which I parried with relative ease. I then saw him get set on fire. He screamed as he was getting burned to a crisp. A few seconds passed, and he fell over dead. I looked behind me to see Soren and Ilyana fighting off a mage.

I then ran toward the last pirate who was fighting Mia. He had one hand on a steel axe, which was engaging Mia, and took a hand axe that must have been hanging from his back. As he parried one of Mia's swings, he threw the hand axe, aiming for my chest. I swung my sword at it, which miraculously deflected the axe to the ground in time. _I was so lucky right there._

"Arghh-" the pirate screamed out as he fell over, Mia quickly finishing him off.

Mia and I looked over to see that Soren had just finished off an enemy mage who was causing him and Ilyana some trouble. As the mage fell over dead, Rhys had run to meet us. He was breathing hard after running the short distance. We then made our way to meet with the other mercenaries.

We marched out of the beach, meeting up with Ike and the others. They had another one in tow, however. She had pink hair, and was on a pegasus. She was fighting off a solder as both Ike and Boyd were teaming up on the commander of the Daein forces. I saw Rolf land an arrow right on the neck of a myrmidon Oscar was fighting.

As soon as Ike had finished off the commander, we immediately continued on our trip to the king's palace, which was a little further into Gallia. As I marched with everyone, I saw the pink-haired girl fly over by me on her pegasus. "Hey, you look familiar!"

"Didn't Ike and I help take out some pirates that were giving you a hard time? That was quite some time ago, now that I think about it," I said.

"That's right; you have my thanks for distracting those boat-monkeys! My name is Marcia, and I've decided to join with you guys! I did owe Ike a favor for taking those idiots out!"

"Nice to meet you Marcia. My name is Matt, and I'm glad we could be so helpful," I said with a smile.

She replied with a nod and a smile. She asked, "You uh…wanna ride with me, hun? I've got a feeling this will be a long march."

"I appreciate the offer, Marcia. But if you could see about taking Ilyana on your pegasus, I know she would appreciate it. She's right over there," I said as I pointed to the female mage. She was looking as sickly and weak as ever.

"Oh, crackers! She looks like she'll keel over any second! Thanks, Matt," she said with a wink. She then flew right by Ilyana, and offered her a ride, which she gladly accepted.

A few hours later, we all had reached the king's palace where I escorted the princess. We all spent time in the dining hall. I didn't see the princess anywhere, so I decided to sit and eat with Ike. After eating and having small-talk with Ike, I saw the princess out of the corner of my eye. She was walking by the door of the dining hall where we were all sitting.

I excused myself and went after her. After a minute, I caught up with her, and stayed silent so she wouldn't know I was behind her. She was on her way to a room; I imagine it was the room she was given to stay in from the King.

When she was several feet from the door to her room, I decided to make Elincia know that she wasn't alone.

I yelled out loud, not forming any words, just yelling. As a result, Elincia jumped out of fear. She looked behind to see me wearing a big smile on my face. "M-Matt! Did you have to give me a scare like that?"

"Maybe," I said with a soft laugh.

She then brought her hands together saying, "It's g-good to see you, my lord Matt….Oh no, I'm sorry."

I just ignored that she called me a lord and just hugged her. This time she hugged me back. _Aww, looks like she's taken a liking to me!_

She still blushed when she pulled away. She quickly shook it off, however. "Did you hear about Ike taking the job to escort me to Begnion?"

"We're goin' to Begnion?" I asked with curiosity.

"Yes. I'm not going to stay here and let the citizens of Crimea continue to be killed or imprisoned. We must take back our country, Matt. We will need Begnion's aid in this, since Gallia cannot aid me while their elders look down on aiding beorc."

"Sounds like a plan, Elincy." I said with a grin.

"E-Elincy? I-I don't like the sound of that…" the princess said.

"Gotcha, guess your royal cuteness it is!"

Elincia then just blushed and looked away, while running a hand through her soft green hair.

"Gosh, you're too cute, ya know that?" I wanted to mess with her even further.

She continued to blush, and looked a little flustered. "I….I…."

"Something you wanna say?" I asked with a laugh.

"You…you are….handsome," Elincia said.

"Elincia, what's gotten into you?"

"I….Don't you compliment someone back if they compliment you?"

"If you would want to. Or just say thank you."

"Well thank you….h-handsome." she said, looking like she had a hard time saying it. Her face turned bright red when she said that.

This time I slightly blushed. "Errr…right. Well, you better get some sleep, Elincia! I imagine that we've got plenty of moving around tomorrow."

"R-right. Goodnight, Matt."

"Goodnight," I said. I walked away with a smile.

"You're looking a little warm, Matt!" I heard Mia say that, walking up to me. "Talking to your girlfriend?"

"Haha, maybe," I said with a small smirk.

"How nice, brother! You're lucky tonight; I've decided not to spar with you tonight!"

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Well, Boyd wanted to spar with me tonight. But this is your only day off, Matt! Tomorrow you better be ready," she said with a smile and a wink.

"If you spar with Boyd, give him the beating of his life," I said, snickering afterwards. "You better be ready as well for tomorrow, Mia!"

"Of course! I think you should get some shut-eye if you want to be in perfect condition to spar with me!"

"What if I'm not tired," I asked. But of course I lied about that.

"C'mere, you're going to bed!" Mia commanded, taking my arm in hers, and trying to drag me to the room I was sleeping in before. I decided to play along, however. She took me to my room, opened the door, and pushed me to my bed. "Goodnight, Matt!" Mia said, shutting the door behind her as she left.

_I guess I'm going to bed now._

**(A/N): **Yes indeed, that is chapter 9! Please review; it makes me very, very happy when you do that. :) Until next time, fellas!

One more thing. "Elincy" belongs to **cazcappy**, he gave me permission to use it. :P


	10. Chapter 10: Prison Break

**(A/N): **Okay, I'm sure I've made you guys wait far too long for me to update. ;) Well, this is my tenth chapter, and I'm celebrating…no, not really. Right after I upload this baby, I need to get to work on a few assignments from Freshman Comp and Humanities. Oh you've just gotta love college…

**Thanks:**

**Cazcappy (editor)**

**Crizix (editor in chief)**

**Shardheart**

**GamerKnight**

**Lamiror**

**Windraider**

**Chibi Duelist**

**Barefootbean**

**Meru-64**

**PINKDIAMOND4000**

**Nomey1**

**XxSecret StoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**Kamai-Rui**

Yes, I still mention _everyone _who reviews my story. It is my gift to all of you. If you wanna be mentioned in my author's notes in the next chapter, you know what to do! :) Onward, people!

_**Chapter 10: Prison Break**_

**(Matt's POV)**

After spending a few days in the King's palace in Gallia, Ike announced we were to leave for Begnion. I'm thankful that we're leaving, I've gotten along with all of the laguz warriors in the palace, but staying in one place for some time isn't my thing. All I've been doing of late is sparring with Mia and Boyd, messing with Elincia, and sleeping.

Anyways, I was busy packing my things up when Ike showed up in the room I was staying in.

"Ready to go, Matt?" Ike asked with a small smile that showed he was as glad as I was that we would be moving around again.

"Almost, Boss!" I said with a grin. As I had strapped my sword to my back, Ike walked up to me and handed me a small leather pouch. I opened it up to reveal a large amount of gold coins. _This must be worth a few thousand!_ I looked back to him, about to ask about the gold.

As I was about to ask, Ike explained. "Pay day, Matt. The reason that you and the others are receiving so much gold is because of how much the King of Gallia was so kind to offer to our company."

"Well, I don't need this much!" I exclaimed with a smile.

"Go get yourself a cape," Ike suggested, grinning.

"Nice one, Ike." I said after sharing a short laugh with the boss. "I had no idea you had a sense of humor!"

"It might be because of you, Matt. You have taught me that it's okay to have a good laugh sometimes, even in war."

As I was about to reply, Ike quickly added, "But you're a lousy mercenary."

I looked at him with a smirk, knowing what was next. "Just kidding, Matt. You are a great asset to the mercenaries, and I'm glad you're here."

"So am I, sir!" I said with a mock salute.

Ike shook his head and sighed. "Back to work," he said in a commanding voice.

As he walked out of my room, I resumed to packing up my belongings. _I should talk to those caravan people who have been traveling with us. What are their names? I have no idea, so I'll just call them the convoy guys. Boyd told me about how they can forge weapons for you, so I'll give it a try._

As I finished with packing, I walked out of my room to see Ilyana. She was looking as frail as ever while she walked.

"Hey, Ilyana." I greeted with a smile.

"Matt…" she replied in a weak voice. She looked at me with a cute look. "Do you have something to eat? We're just about to leave, and it's been a long time since those guys here cooked breakfast…."

"That was just a couple of hours ago, Ilyana!" I exclaimed in wonder. I shook my wonder off as I reached inside a small bag attached to my belt. I opened it up and picked out the only thing inside it: an apple. I passed it to the mage, and she smiled as she snatched it from my grasp.

As she quickly bit into the fruit, I asked her, "I was wondering if you could take me to those guys you always hang out with. You know, those convoy guys?"

As I had asked her, she just finished the apple I had given to her. Ilyana then said in a kind tone, "Follow me."

I walked beside her through a hall in the palace. She then pointed out to a room, which must have had the convoy guys inside. "Thanks," I said to her with a smile.

"Thank you," Ilyana said as she walked away with the core of an apple in her hand.

I proceeded to knock on the door. I heard a voice call out from inside yelling, "Come on in!"

I opened the door to reveal a middle-aged man with a beard complimenting his brown hair. He was quickly and effectively rearranging items they carried. Behind him was a young woman with black hair, and she quickly walked over to me.

"Oh, look what we have here!" the woman said in a flirtatious voice as she reached out to feel my biceps. "Aren't you the handsome one! Tell me, how may I help you, young man?"

As she let go of my arms, I scratched the back of my head. I said, "I'm here about maybe forging a weapon or two."

"Then speak with Jorge and Daniel," she said as she pointed out to two young men. One had brown hair, and the other had blonde. They looked they were arguing about something.

"Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome. But before you go speak with those two, could I get your name, sweetie?" the woman said in another flirtatious tone.

"My name's Matt." I introduced myself.

"My name is Aimee, and I hope to be seeing more of you," she said with a wink.

"And I'm Muston. Nice to meet ya, fella!" the big, bearded guy said as he walked over to shake my hand. I gladly accepted it. After shaking Muston's hand, I made my way to the other side of the room, where the two guys were still arguing about something.

"Hey, idiots! We have a customer!" I heard Aimee shout from behind me. The two immediately broke up the fight, but not before the blonde punched the brown-haired guy's arm.

The blonde quickly introduced himself to me. "My name's Jorge, and I'll buy anything you don't need. Stop by when you have an old weapon or item, and I'll make your time worth it."

"I'm Daniel, it's nice to meet you. I'm a craftsman; I'll make anything that you might order. Depending if we have the right material on hand," the brown-haired youth introduced himself as well.

"Nice to meet you both. My name's Matt and I might just become a faithful customer," I said with a brief smile. _Let's see what we can do…._

"Jorge," I said to get his attention as I tossed my sword to the blonde. "I won't need this once Daniel gets to work." They both smiled as a reaction.

After a short while, my order was made by Daniel. I had ordered a steel sword that was heavier than my old one. It might not have been necessary, but my payment was more than enough to buy my order three times over. Daniel passed the sword to me as I tested the weight. "Perfect. You're quite the craftsman, Daniel!"

"Your words are too kind, my friend," Daniel said gratefully.

"Jorge, thanks for taking my old sword."

"Here's what it was worth," Jorge said as he passed me a small amount of gold. I took his gold and passed it to his brother. Then I reached out in my pocket to pay off the sword I had ordered.

"Thanks," they both said with smiles on their faces.

I nodded as I walked out of the room, but not before saying a quick "See ya guys later."

When I exited their room, I had seen Ranulf across the hall. When he looked over my way, he smiled and walked to meet me.

"Hey Matt!" Ranulf greeted with a big grin. "You ready to go to Begnion?"

"I guess so," I replied. "But don't we need to go back to Crimea to get a boat? Unless you guys in Gallia have one to spare."

"You're quite the intelligent beorc, Matt. You're right though. As much as King Caineghis would like to aid you, we have no boats."

"He's already been a great help, Ranulf. Taking in the princess when she had no place to go, giving us such a hefty amount of gold, ordering both Mordecai and Lethe to come along with us, I can't possibly name everything he's done!"

"Ha! You never cease to surprise me, Matt. Grateful, humble, treating us laguz as you would beorc! You're a pretty awesome beorc, you know that? No wonder you managed to charm Elincia into being your girlfriend!"

_More rumors spreading, I see. Whatever that's better for me.. _"Hmm, ya know we aren't really together, right?"

"I've seen the way that princess acts around you, Matt! You might not think so, but we're sure you two are in the middle of something," Ranulf said while giving me a thumbs-up.

_I've been meaning to ask Elincia out, but we probably shouldn't be in a relationship while in this war. I'll need to sleep on it…._

I then remembered how Ranulf had complimented me, which seemed a little hard for some laguz to say. "You're awesome too, Ranulf!" I said as we bumped fists, and then made a quick embrace (bro hug). "Whenever you get the chance, tell the king I said thanks, buddy."

"Actually, I'll be taking you guys to Crimea. I'll let the king know what you said once I return to Gallia, however."

"Sounds good to me," I said with a smirk. "Well, should we be getting moving?"

"Of course! That's what Ike has asked me to do in the first place! Why do you have to distract me, fool," Ranulf sarcastically said as he slapped my back.

I then ran to the front of the palace to meet up with Ike. After a brief moment, Ranulf quickly passed me, running without transforming to his laguz form. _Show off. _

Ranulf and I eventually met up with Ike, everyone else was with him. The blue-haired commander looked at me and Ranulf with a serious look on his face. "You're late, Matt. As are you, Ranulf."

"Sorry, Ike. Ranulf was busy telling me stories while I kept trying to tell him we need to move. He wouldn't budge an inch!"

As I finished up my fake excuse, Ranulf slapped the back of my head. I looked back to him with a small frown, while he was looking the complete opposite direction, whistling an innocent tune.

"Matt, I know it was Ranulf getting you. Nice try, though." Ike said with a thin smile on his face. Everyone else just laughed at Ranulf and me.

I whispered to Ranulf, "I guess we just made fools out of ourselves, huh?"

"Maybe you did, Matt. But I didn't," Ranulf whispered back with a grin. Ike made his way to Ranulf as we all began our march to Crimea.

After a few hours, we made our way out of the forests that lined Gallia's border with Crimea. As the sun was blaring down at us, Boyd complained to me.

"Gallia is all fine and dandy, but I'll be glad to be away from this terrible humidity," the fighter said as he wiped his forehead.

"I doubt complaining will make it any better," I said wiping my forehead as well.

"Matt's right," Mia said as she jumped up on my back. I staggered a little from the extra weight, but kept my balance.

"What're you doing, Mia?"

"I'm tired of walking, so I thought you would give me a piggy-back ride!"

"Fine," I said while she sat up on me as we continued our march.

"That's no fair! I'm tired of walking too," Boyd said.

"You jump up on me, you'll get my sword stuck up your-"

"I wouldn't, Matt! No worries. Maybe I'll get a ride with Oscar or Titania," Boyd mused out loud.

"I think Rolf is riding with Oscar, man," I answered, not meaning to burst his bubble. _Actually, I did mean to, I thought to myself, feeling a smile form on my face._

"You called for me," Titania asked as she rode up by us.

"Boyd won't stop whining about all this walking, so would you take care of him," I asked, while adjusting to Mia's light weight.

"Hm.. Why should I?" Titania asked with a smirk. We saw the miffed look on Boyd's face while Titania lightened up. "I was kidding, Boyd. Hop on up." Boyd quickly followed.

"Appreciate it!" Boyd said with a smile on his face.

Another hour of marching, and we made it to this castle in Crimea. It looked very dark and dreary, as we all stopped. Ike was speaking with Ranulf, as well as Elincia.

All of a sudden they all made their way inside of the castle. "Wonder what's up," Mia asked as she jumped off of me. We all followed suit.

"No idea." I said to Mia.

We all entered the castle, which had a few torches lit. I saw some guards in black armor with spears in their grips. I also spotted some doors with locks on them. _Looks like Daein captured a few guys? I'm guessing they're Crimean soldiers that have been caught._

I heard someone making very quick and decisive steps toward us. I unsheathed my sword, ready to defend myself at any cost. I then saw the man immediately speaking with Ike. _Why do I smell smoke all of a sudden?_

He was dressed in dark clothing and had brown hair. He had a lockpick and a few knives attached to his belt. _A thief! He doesn't looks like he's against us in any way. Looks like we're saving those prisoners!_

I saw Ranulf sneak past me after speaking with Ike. He flashed a quick thumbs-up to me. I nodded as he exited the castle. _No idea what he's up to, but we'll be alright. As long as we don't give ourselves awa—_

"E-Enemy soldiers!" I heard a Daein soldier scream out. All of a sudden we were surrounded by Daeins.

"Nice going, Boyd!" I shouted in sarcasm as we were starting to fight.

"It wasn't me!" I heard Boyd yell as he swung his axe at a knight.

"Sorry. I feel a need to blame you whenever things go wrong," I said with a laugh.

"Pah!" Boyd said while he continued to fight.

I ran to the knight that Boyd was fighting off. I swung my new sword at the knight's head, which knocked the helmet off. The knight looked at me in anger right before Boyd jumped up and dug his axe into his head. The knight fell to the ground as we pressed forward.

A nearby lancer ran over to me and attempted to stab my chest. I brought my sword up to parry the blow, and followed up with a kick to his side. He fell down, groaning in pain. I quickly stabbed him in the chest to end the soldier's life.

I saw the thief we hired, and he was rifling though a few bodies for gold. _Isn't he supposed to be opening those—oh. _I looked up to see Ike walk into the cell, its door wide open. I saw that the prisoner was in a monk's wardrobe.

I ignored those two and ran to a mage that was casting a lightning spell on Rolf. The green-haired child swiftly stepped back to avoid the attack, and quickly launched an arrow at the mage's chest. _Who taught this kid how to use a bow?_

I sprinted to a myrmidon Mia was fighting. Although she was faster, she was using a steel sword, which was a little heavy for her. It explained why she was using two hands to hold and swing it. The enemy somehow got the upper hand, and I saw my chance to strike. I jumped up and used my weight to bring my blade down on the myrmidon's chest.

"You're a life-saver, Matt!" Mia exclaimed while hugging me for a brief second.

I hugged her back and said, "Maybe you should use a lighter sword, or I could toughen you up a little."

I walked up north to another cell that was wide open, thanks to that thief. I saw a light-green haired girl poke her head out to see what was going on. She had a helmet on, as well as light armor. She looked like a soldier who was unarmed. She looked stunning_._ As the girl hid back in the cell, enemy soldiers approached the cell.

I ran to the front of the cell so the soldiers couldn't harm her. I fought off the soldiers as Oscar ran over to help me out. He sprinted by a soldier trying to jab me, and impaled him with his spear. Then Marcia raced towards me, stabbing another soldier. I quickly sliced at the last solder's chest, killing him.

I walked into the cell to see the girl with a curious look on her face. "Wh-who are you?"

"I'm Matt of the Greil Mercenaries. We're here to bust you guys out of here. Wait here for a quick sec," I answered as I stepped out to see if there were any other Daeins. The coast was clear, and I waved her over.

"Th-thank you," I heard the girl said in a quiet thick accented voice. She sounded like she was from the countryside of Crimea. She walked behind me for safety.

We made our way to a general that was fighting Boyd with a spear. The green-haired fighter swung his axe and dug into the general's heavy armor. Then I saw both Soren and Ilyana cast spells, one a wind spell, and the other a lightning spell. The spells casted combined into a cyclone of greens and yellows, which directly hit the enemy.

The general fell over as some red-haired guy dug his axe into the general's head. "Victory!" the knight said with pride. He then ran to the exit.

I then heard a heavily armored knight approached me. He was panting heavily. "…..Finally c-caught up. Oh, hi there Nephenee," the brown-haired knight said in between breaths. He then laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey Brom," the soldier behind me named Nephenee said as she waved.

"You're with Ike, I'm guessin'?" I heard the knight say with a big smile.

"Yep. My name's Matt. It's nice to meet you, big guy." I said as I shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you as well, Nephenee."

"Ni-nice to meetcha," the girl said with a small smile.

Brom, Nephenee and I made our way out of the castle, where Ike was speaking with Elincia and that one red-haired knight. I believe I've heard of some reckless, yet patriotic knight my parents told me about before.

When the knight was done speaking to Ike, he immediately raced over to me and yelled while pointing at me, "You!"

"Uhhhh…Yeah?" I answered, unsure.

"Aren't you Matt?" I nodded. "Your parents are in the Royal Knights! Last I've heard from them, they're carrying on against those black-hearted Deains!"

"I'm sure they're fighting off those Deains fairly well," I said with confidence.

"But of course! They are with General Geoffrey, as well as the best of the Royal Knights," the knight announced with pride. _Although I've never met Geoffrey, my parents told me of his skills as a general. Good to know he's still around._

"I didn't wish to speak to you about your family, however. Now that I've got you where I want you, I shall train you to be a Royal Knight, just like your mother and father! We have a small number of knights protecting the throne, and we could use you for the good of Crimea!"

_This guy's pushing the idea of me becoming a Royal Knight rather quickly. _"Aren't we fighting for the good of Crimea right now, uhhhhh…." _I don't even know this guy's name!_

"I am Crimean Royal Knight Fifth Platoon Captain Kieran! And I will take you under my wing as I instruct you! There are so many things to do! You need armor! A horse! There's much work to be done! I-"

"Maybe some other time, Kieran," I interrupted him. "_This guy is a piece of work, for sure…._" I thought as I brought my palm to my face._ How am I gonna deal with this guy?_

**(Ranulf's POV)**

I spotted Matt speaking with that rather loud and obnoxious knight we freed. I decided to save my good friend from that guy by resting my arm on his shoulder, and leading him away.

"Hey! I wasn't finished with you yet," I heard that Kieran guy yell as I brought Matt further from him. He followed us until I gave him an annoyed look. He took it as threatening, as he backed off.

"I owe you Ranulf," Matt said while I walked him over to my destination for him: where 'her royal cuteness' is. I saw her after a short moment of walking. She looked like she had just finished with speaking to Ike and those beorc we saved from that prison. _Time to see Matt play his game with the princess…._

**(Matt's POV)**

As I thanked Ranulf from taking me away from that recruiter 'Captain Kieran,' he kept walking me over until we spotted Elincia. _Okay, what're you doing, Ranulf?_

"Oh, Princess Elincia! Matt wished to speak to you about something important," I heard Ranulf say with a big grin on his face.

I whispered to Ranulf, "Umm, I wasn't aware I had to speak with her about something important."

"Sure, it's important! Just speak to her, Matt! You don't think you guys are in a relationship? Go ahead and ask her out then, silly beorc," Ranulf whispered back and then let go of me and walked away. Before he walked out of earshot, I heard him mutter to himself, "Beorc, they have absolutely no idea when to make a move on the opposite sex. The things I do for this guy…"

"Is…is there something I can do for you, Matt?" Elincia asked with a curious look on her face. She then flashed a smile, as if to bring me some sort of relief. _Gah, that cute smile! Enough is enough, already! I should just throw this over her way right now!_

"Elincia, I was sorta wondering…. if you would want to…. g-go out sometime? You know, when we aren't fighting with those Daein guys twenty-four seven," I asked with a small stutter. _I'm normally good with talking to girls, but this is the first time I've asked someone out. I wonder what she'll have to say._

As I expected, the Crimean princess blushed a bright red. I also felt some heat flow up to my face. _Looks like this is as hard for her as it is for me. _I scratched the back of my head, patiently waiting for an answer. "I…. I…. P-p-perhaps... Y-yes, I'd like t-that," I heard her answer while stuttering uncontrollably.

I felt a bead of sweat run down my face as I quickly wiped it off. "R-really," I asked while blushing a little more.

She merely nodded, still blushing. But this time, with a smile on her cute face. She then wrapped her slim arms around me, which I was pretty surprised at. _She hasn't done this before, as far as I know. I guess she feels she should've hugged me now that we're 'dating'. _

I quickly hugged her back, feeling a big smile sweep across my face. To my surprise, no one else was around to say "Awww," or anything annoying like that.

We broke out of our hug to make our way to the rest of the mercenaries. On the way there, I felt Elincia slowly take my hand in hers. I looked at her in slight shock. "S-shouldn't we h-hold hands? Now that we're…. dating," she asked while blushing yet again. "I-I'm sorry, I just don't know what to do."

I softly laughed as we kept walking, with her hand in mine. "No worries, your royal cuteness. We'll both learn."

**(A/N): **This is my tenth chapter, and I just checked that I have over 50 reviews. I dunno how you guys enjoy reading this, but I'm grateful for you all who have read even just one chapter of this story! You're amazing.

No worries, guys. The whole Matt/Elincia thing won't be filled with lemons, as that would probably screw up the story. I just wanted to do a little something that's sorta…cute. You know, for Valentine's Day (since I have no idea if my next chapter will be up by then). If you think there will be a huge romance thing going on between Matt and Elincia so soon, you might be in for a surprise. We'll just see what happens, eh?

Anyway, we finally see Neph, one of my overused units in FE 9 and 10! Don't deny her amazingness, or she might poke you with her lance. :P

Nephenee: Ya know, I'm not really like that…

Mattyboy91: Yeah, for sure! But you should know how almost everyone I know (who plays Fire Emblem) uses you!

Nephenee: Aww…. *blushes* you're so kind.

Mattyboy91: I know. ;D Let's give it up for Neph, people! *Stands up and claps*

Okay, you guys. This is where I say until next time! If I don't update as soon as I'd like, you guys have a Happy Valentine's day! Full of candy, love, and other nice things! xD


	11. Chapter 11: Fears and Failures

**(A/N): **I'm back with another chapter, people! Woohoo and cool beans, (insert something dorky to say here).

Thanks to:

**Cazcappy (editor)**

**Crizix (editor in chief)**

**Lamiror**

**barefootbean**

**PINKDAIMOND4000**

**Meru-64**

**Shardheart**

**GamerKnight**

**Windraider**

**Chibi Duelist**

**nomey1**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**Kamai-Rui**

And everyone who has read this piece of….work. ;)

_**Chapter 11: Fears and Failures**_

After we freed Nephenee, Brom, Kieran and that one monk who left shortly after, we all made our way to Port Toha, which is, to my knowledge, Crimea's westernmost port city. Ranulf had confirmed it while he was speaking with Ike when we entered through the town's gates.

When Ike was finished speaking with Ranulf and Soren, he let everyone roam free. Ranulf went out ahead to meet with someone about a ship. _Even though he's not serious most of the time, Ranulf has certainly been a huge help for us. Heck, he even played matchmaker._

I decided to see if I could be of any help to anyone, so I approached Titania.

"Titania, is there something you and Ike would have me do? I feel lame if I'm not being helpful," I asked as I walked up to her. She was dismounted, tending to her horse.

She looked up to me with a small smile. "That's very nice of you to offer to help, Matt. But, nothing really comes to mind. Why don't you take a stroll around the city? If there's anything that comes up, I'll be sure to put you to work!"

"Alright, I guess I'll go and do that," I said with a nod. "See ya in a little bit."

I turned my back and walked around the town to see what it has to offer. Port Toha was active, with merchants at every corner, offering whatever they would be selling. The citizens were walking around as I was, acting very calmly. _These guys are acting as if there's no war. _

While I thought that to myself, I accidentally bumped into a man. He wore a red vest, had green hair, and was muscular.

"Hey, watch where you're goin'!" the man said.

"Whoops! My bad, big guy," I apologized while looking up at him.

"Oh, wait! You look like someone who knows how to fight. You a mercenary?" he asked when he looked at me, sizing me up.

"I might be," I answered with a confident smile.

"If you're looking for work, I have a business proposition for you, buddy."

"What would that be?"

"You see, I run a vigilante group that helps keep our fair town safe. A strong guy like you would be most welcome!"

"Thanks for the offer, but I've already been hired to do a…job."

"Ha. That's too bad. Heading out to sea," the vigilante asked with curiosity.

"Perhaps."

The man laughed and said, "Cautious to the end! I like that! Well, just in case you are... I want you to have this." He handed me a rare-looking sword. He continued, "It's a special sword. It'll come in handy if you ever...find yourself at sea. Not that you would! Har har!"

_I really don't like this guy's laugh. It's kinda creepy._

"So, you're just giving me this thing," I asked with some suspicion.

"Well, there is one condition... Once you've finished your job, you come back and see me. I'd like you to reconsider that vigilante position."

I really didn't have an interest in working with him. They might actually be good guys, but the life of a vigilante isn't for me. I faked, "I'll see about that. Thanks for the sword."

He merely gave me a thumbs-up while walking away. I turned around and saw Elincia. She was surprised at all the hustle and bustle of the city. I took the sword the vigilante gave me, and tied its sheath to my belt. I made my way over to her royal cuteness.

She didn't seem to notice me, as she was staring at the business going on in the city. I walked around the girl to get behind her, so I might be able to scare her. I snuck up behind her as silent as possible, and when I was a few feet behind her, I was just about to yell out her name to give her a scare.

As I opened my mouth to yell, I was interrupted by Elincia. "Nice try, Matt," she said while turning around to look at me. She let out a small laugh at my mildly disappointed look, and continued to look around the city while I followed.

"You've never been in a city like this, huh," I asked while walking with her.

"Yes. I'm unfamiliar with the world outside the imperial villa where I was raised. This is the first time I've been able to see how other people live. Everything is so new and different to my eyes. This...is a town, isn't it? There's so much energy, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves."

"This town is really lively, with all of the boats coming in and out of the port. But it might be dangerous to walk around here by yourself," I said while grabbing her hand. "We don't want any creepy guys trying to get with you here. I'll stick with you."

"I've already had a 'creepy guy' try to get with me. He's right here," she said while winking at me.

"This creep is lucky to be with a cute girl like yourself," I said. Elincia looked away with a blushed face.

"Y-you're really s-sweet."

"I know," I said with a grin.

The princess just laughed at my cocky attitude as we kept walking. After we spent a little time continuing to walk around the town, we made our way back to the gates. Everyone else was there waiting for Ranulf, Mordecai and Lethe to come back. Titania was nowhere to be found, but I'm sure Ike knows what she's up to. Soren looked at us with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Matt, I don't approve of what you're doing with the princess. This 'relationship' will hinder your performance as a mercenary," Soren said with a cold gaze.

"Yeah, what about you and Ilyana?" I asked with a smile.

Ilyana was actually standing behind the blunt mage as I said that. She looked away, with a blush. Boyd swiftly elbowed Soren with a big smile. "Nice going, Soren!"

Ike was laughing, along with a few of the other mercenaries. "That was a good one, Matt," Ike said while taking me by the shoulder, signaling that he wished to speak to me about something alone. I let go of Elincia's hand, and went with Ike.

"Matt, I couldn't care less about what you're doing with the princess. But Soren is right about one thing. I certainly hope that you don't fall behind because of this," Ike said with a straight face.

"No worries, Boss. I'll make sure I won't. You just watch over Soren and Ilyana. I've also seen your sister and Rolf hanging out all the time," I answered with a wink. "They're inseparable!"

"I don't think Rolf has any bad ideas, Matt. At least he better not! But thanks."

We heard some commotion by the gates. Ike looked to me and nodded. We raced over and met up with the mercenaries.

"What's going on? Why all the excitement?" Ike asked.

"My lord Ike! There's a crowd gathering at the town entrance..." Elincia answered with alarm.

"This can't be good," I said while shaking my head. I heard a black-armored soldier announce with a booming voice.

"Attention citizens! We've received reports of Crimean army stragglers hiding in this town! From this point forth, the Daein army will blockade all points of entry! No one comes or goes without our leave! The harbor is also closed! No ships will be allowed to sail!"

"I really hate these guys," I muttered to myself. Elincia heard me, and giggled softly. I looked over to her with a smile. From behind, Titania rode up on her mount.

"Ike, Daein troops have-" she was interrupted.

"I know. All we can do is move toward the docks and try not to be discovered," Ike replied with a serious face.

"Have you seen Ranulf?"

"Not yet. Wait, here he comes now. Ranulf! Over here." As Ike said that, I also spotted my laguz buddy.

"Hoo! Things sure are heating up, aren't they?" Ranulf said with a laugh.

"How are things on your end pal?" I asked him.

"Everything's set. All you need to do is sneak down to the harbor. You'll be met there by a man with a dusky pallor. His name is Nasir. Nasir is a man you can trust. I've explained your situation to him, and he's willing to help. If you can reach his ship safely, he'll take care of everything and deliver you to Begnion."

"Ranulf, aren't you coming, too?" Ike asked.

"I was planning on it, but... Daein's movements have me concerned. I'll stay behind and see what's going on." As he answered Ike, a woman ran into Ranulf, exposing his laguz features.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going..." the woman apologized politely.

"No, pardon me-" Ranulf was interrupted.

"Ah! Eeeeeeek! Su-sub-human!" _Well, this will make it a lot easier._

"Blast!"

Several other citizens showed up, and they surrounded Ranulf.

"I-it's true! A sub-human! How dare you come prowling around here!" a middle-aged man shouted, kicking the cat laguz.

"Beast! Ya stinking sub-humans need to learn yer place! Human towns are too good for ya!" a youth said, while punching the poor guy.

"Eww! It's so hairy! Go on! Scat!" a woman was clearly disgusted. She proceeded to hit Ranulf over and over again with a broom. She swung her broom hard, and it broke when it collided into Ranulf's face. He just kept getting hit by the idiots, and he eventually collapsed to the ground.

"Drat," I yelled with anger. I was just about to save the cat laguz, when Elincia grabbed my arm. She looked up to me with her hazel eyes, not wanting me to do something that would blow our plans on escaping the Daeins. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Thanks," I said to Elincia. She nodded, and I noticed that she was still hanging on to my arm. I flexed for a second, and she let go, while blushing.

I turned back to see Ranulf letting himself get beat up by the citizens. Ike was the one to save the day, with Mordecai and Lethe behind him. I heard Lethe mutter, "Stupid human."

After arguing with the citizens, Ike helped Ranulf up. They spoke briefly. After a few moments Ike yelled, "Titania! Soren! Get everyone together! We're getting out of here!"

"Be careful, Matt." Princess Elincia said with concern. She then retreated. _Ha, I'll give it a try. _I saw Ranulf quickly transform, and led on a few Daein soldiers so we'd have less to deal with. _See ya later, buddy._

At that, we all started moving to where this Nasir guy is. Most of the mercenaries took the west, while I took the east with a few others: Nephenee, Lethe, Rolf and Rhys.

One myrmidon ran right at me, wildly swinging his sword like he had no idea what he was doing. _These can't be the vigilantes…. can they?_ I quickly parried his slash, and I swung downward at his sword. The enemy's sword fell from his grip. He looked at me, seeming not to know what to do.

"This is the part when you run away," I said with a confident smile. He quickly agreed, fleeing.

I saw another myrmidon who was fighting Nephenee. The guy wasn't able to hit her, as she was too fast on her feet. She jabbed the enemy in his sword arm. The swordsman let go of his sword, and fell to his knees in obvious pain. Neph looked like she didn't want to kill him, so I quickly said, "Let him run."

The vigilante didn't run, however. He dashed right at me, trying to land a punch. I took his hand with my left arm, and I swung him and tossed him to a tiny pond several feet away from us.

The rest of the vigilantes ran, as they saw Lethe kill one by slashing his throat. Another vigilante ran toward us, but his sword was sheathed. He yelled, "Please! I'm not your enemy! I'm here to help the laguz!" He seemed to say that more to Lethe than the rest of us. _Bout time I heard someone not say "subhuman" in this town._ Lethe reverted to her human form, and began to speak with him.

While they were speaking, a few Daein wyvern riders approached us. One flew right at me with a steel lance in his hand. He stabbed with his lance, but I jumped out of the way. I heard the wyvern crash to the ground when I saw Rolf launch an arrow at the beast's neck. The fighter still tried to fight us, but was unsuccessful. Nephenee stabbed the fighter from behind.

Another wyvern rider came, and Rolf let go of another arrow, which sunk into the Daein warrior's head. _Rolf, How in the world?_ The rider fell off as his wyvern flew away from the battle.

Lethe, Rhys, Rolf, Nephenee and I met back together. The gray-haired myrmidon was with us, however. He introduced himself to me, "My name is Zihark, and I guess I'll be working with you guys from now on." _Go figure, Lethe, the one laguz who seemed to hate beorc recruited one!_

"Welcome aboard, Zihark. My name is Matt," I said while shaking his hand. As we broke off the handshake, I spotted a knight in all black armor slowly marching toward us. _This was the guy we saw in Gallia! We need to get outta here! _

"Everyone, we need to get out of here. Right now. You see that guy in black armor?" I asked while pointing to the knight. They all nodded. "He's not here to make friends." Everyone seemed to agree, and ran for the western part of town to meet with the rest of the mercenaries.

I ran behind them all, until I felt some blast of energy hit the ground right behind me. _Oh crap, he's faster than he looks. _I tripped and was in the air for a few seconds before feeling my face hit the ground. I pulled myself up on my feet, and the knight stood before me, ready to fight.

"Do you think you could possibly fight me, boy? You're not the one I'm after, but if I take you out, it's one less mercenary to deal with in the future," the knight said. His voice was really deep. He pulled back up his sword and swung downward. I jumped backwards, and he swung his sword horizontally. I ducked to avoid the fatal impact.

"I'm not planning on dying here today, guy. Sorry," I said with mock confidence as I swung my sword at the heavily armored knight. He quickly sidestepped from my slash.

He sprinted toward me and swung his sword again. I parried with my sword, but he greatly overpowered me. I lost grip of my sword when we hit. It flung several feet away, as I fell back to avoid being cut up by the knight. I jumped back up, and the knight hit my chest with the handle of his blade. I fell over in pain.

I got back up to face the knight. I heard a voice yell from behind me. "Matt! Get out of here now!" I turned around and saw Ranulf transform into his cat form. He jumped in front of me for to protect me.

"Ranulf," I said with a sigh. _This guy's a matchmaker and a life-saver. _"I owe you two favors now!" I said as I picked up my sword and retreated. Before I ran out of earshot, I heard Ranulf roar. _You better make it, buddy._

I ran to the west side of town, and it was completely free of Daeins. Ike was waiting for me by the plank that led to the deck of Nasir's ship.

"You're late," Ike said with a frown.

"I had to buy time for the others with me to get out. That knight we met back in Gallia is here," I answered.

"W-what?" Ike yelled out. He had an angry look on his face, and he gripped his sword so tightly I swear it would shatter.

"Ike, we can't face him. Not now. We've gotta get out of here," I yelled while taking Ike's shoulders and shaking him around wildly.

As I let go, Ike took a deep breath and let it go. "Fine. I swear that I'll meet him in combat in the future. I will avenge my father's death," he said to himself more than to me.

"You mean he killed the boss," I exclaimed in surprise. He nodded, but stayed silent. It was clear he didn't want to talk about it, so we quickly entered the ship. He walked away from me as I got in.

"You okay, brother?" Mia asked me from behind. I turned around and saw that she had a look of concern. "You took a little longer than everyone else!"

"I ran into this huge guy who wasn't in the mood to have any fun," I answered with a small smile.

"Well, I was worried about you, Matt. Next time, you're fighting by my side. That's final!" she hugged me, and I hugged her back with a smirk on my face.

"I hear ya," I answered as she broke the hug.

"Matt! I didn't think you were going to make it…" I heard Elincia say. Mia gave me a wink and walked away. I wrapped Elincia up in a hug without warning. I heard her let out a short "Eeep" as I hugged her.

"Of course we would make it, your royal cuteness! Sorry if I worried you," I broke the hug, and she was blushing.

"I'm just happy to see you well. So very…happy." _….And she says that I'm sweet, haha._

**(A/N): **Done! Yay! That's another chapter out of the way!

And we won't be seeing Ranulf for a while. What a shame, I've had fun writing up the friendship between Matt and Ranulf. They seem like brothers! And yes, the friendship between Matt and Ranulf is based on the closeness of a friend of mine. We've known each other for over five years, and we're still stirring up trouble today! ;D

Anyway, please review! Reviews make me very happy! Love you all, peace out!

P.S – So, my main fanfiction buddy **cazcappy** and I are starting a new project. It's called **Crimean Mercenaries**. The first chapter of our story is underway, so keep your eyes peeled! I'll work on that story, but I'll still be making this my top priority. Okay, buh-bye now. xP


	12. Chapter 12: Winged, Beardless Pirates

**(A/N): **Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a little while! If it's a valid excuse, I've been busy with class work. The joys of being a college kid... Anyways, thanks to these awesome guys:

**Cazcappy (editor)**

**Crizix (editor in chief)**

**Lamiror**

**barefootbean**

**PINKDAIMOND4000**

**Meru-64**

**Shardheart**

**GamerKnight**

**Windraider**

**Chibi Duelist**

**nomey1**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**Kamai-Rui**

_**Chapter 12: Winged, Beardless Pirates**_

**(Matt's POV)**

_I never knew I was seasick until now. I just hope no pirates attack us or anything. _I thought this to myself as I finished sparring with Mia. She put me to shame this time and I was lying on my back, it might have been due to my dislike of being surrounded by a huge body of water. That or I spent the entire day sparring with Mia, Ike, and Boyd among others. I felt dizzy, and attempted to get up. Elincia stepped in from behind, and helped me up by pulling my arm.

After a few seconds, I stood up thanks to Elincia's aid. Mia was a little concerned about my seasickness. "You feeling okay, brother? I guess I beat you a little too hard this time around." She asked.

"It's fine, Mia. I'm just not used to being on board a ship for so long," I answered. It's true; we've been on onboard Nasir's ship for about a month, so we're halfway to Begnion. We did see some land besides the same old pale blues of the sea; we must be close by Kilvas, the nation of the raven laguz. Sundown was approaching as we saw the sun slowly set, darkening the sky above us.

"You should probably get some rest, Matt," Elincia said, reluctantly holding her arm up to my back. I nodded in response, and we went to the lower levels of the ship. The princess wrapped her arm around mine to offer some help to walk without falling.

We eventually made it to the door of the room I was staying in. Much to my chagrin, I was sharing the room with Boyd. He hasn't pulled any pranks on me yet, but I was trying to prepare myself for the inevitable. Boyd wasn't in the room when I opened the door.

"Ahem," I heard a stern voice from the outside of the room I was staying in. The voice belonged to Nasir, the captain of the ship. "I never agreed to having two members of the opposite sex staying in the same room. Let alone eloping." He had long light-blue hair that reached to the top of his back. He had a tan robe on, and a tan complexion.

Elincia immediately blushed a deep red, letting go of my arm. "I..I…"

"No worries, Nasir. Nothing was going to happen, I swear. Besides, we didn't even step into the room," I answered with a serious expression.

Nasir brought his hand to his chin in thought. He then said, "Forgive me, but I don't want to take any chances, Matt."

"G-goodnight, Matt," the princess said to me. I wrapped my arms around her and I felt the princess hug me back.

"G'night, guys," I said with a small grin.

Elincia and Nasir left my presence, and I stepped into my room. I jumped up onto the cot I was using and felt sleep claim me for the night.

The next day 

**(Boyd's POV)**

When I went to bed last night, Matt was already snoozing, which I wasn't the least bit surprised at. I got out of my cot in the early morning, and decided to stir up some trouble for my friend.

I went up to the deck, and saw Ike speaking with Elincia, Mist and Nasir. After a moment of silence between the four, I made my presence known. "Hey, Boss! Why don't we have a little fun with Matt? He's still asleep, and I came up with an effective way to wake that guy up," I offered to Ike.

"Hmmm… As long as we don't end up hurting him," Ike answered and dismissed himself from the trio and followed me to the room I was sharing with Matt.

I quickly took out the blankets covering the sleepaholic, which exposed him. He didn't seem to be bothered, and I took hold of his arms. I nodded to Ike, and he grabbed his legs. We lifted him up, slowly but steadily. We took up to the deck, where the three were still talking. The princess looked over at us, and who we had in tow. She immediately noticed that Matt was shirtless, and she looked away blushing.

Whether Princess Elincia knew what we were doing with Matt or not, we continued with my plan. Ike and I approached the edge of the ship, and leaned him on the railing. We briefly hoisted Matt back up, and I yelled, "Man overboard," as we tossed him out of the ship. We saw that Matt had finally opened his eyes right before he hit the water.

**(Matt's POV)**

This isn't the way I had planned on waking up. I opened my eyes and saw Boyd and Ike laughing down at me before I looked down and hit the water. I sunk a few feet underwater, and rose back to the surface. "I really hate you guys," I yelled out while shaking my fist. The two unrolled a ladder made of rope down to the water. I quickly swam to the side of the ship and grabbed the ladder. I climbed back to the deck, and glared daggers at Boyd and Ike.

Everyone was laughing at my misfortune. Not just Ike and Boyd, but also Elincia, Mist, even Nasir! I then felt really cold because of the water, and the wind blowing wasn't helping at all. I quickly retreated to my room but not before yelling, "I'll get you guys back, I promise!"

I dried myself off before clothing myself. I also changed my pants that were soaked, thanks to those two idiots. I left my room when I finished changing, and I heard some unsettling noise at the corner of a hall. I spotted the shadow of a shadowy figure. At first I thought it was Volke, but the person's shadow was the size of a youth.

I stayed silent until I heard some more steps. I looked back at the corner, and recklessly tackled who or what made the noise. I landed on top of a youth and he grunted in pain. "Ouch! Get off of me, or you'll get a knife stuck in your eye!" _That's not very nice._

I got off of the young thief, and grabbed him by the arm to pull him up. "Looks like we've had a little stowaway for a little while. What're you doing here, kid," I asked with some suspicion.

I expected him to reply, but he quickly escaped from my grip when he unexpectedly stabbed my wrist with his knife. I let go, and yelled in pain. "You little bast-! Wait, where'd he go?" I looked around, and I didn't see any sign of the thief. I decided to run up to the deck to let Ike and Nasir know of the stowaway. As I made my way up, I wrapped some bandage around the stab wound.

It didn't go according to my plan, however. Ike had the thief in his grip, by the ear. _Are you trying to rip his face off, Ike? _

I heard Nasir speak up. "Ike, there's no need to be so rough!" _You said it, pal._

"I'm not going to waste my time playing games with this urchin. You want me to let you go? Open your mouth and start talking," Ike said in a commanding tone.

"Owowow! Quit it! I'll talk," the youth yelled out. Ike let go of him, and he continued. "...That hurt! I thought you were gonna break my face..."

"I thought so too, you little dingleberry," I said with a frown.

Ike started to ask, "Well? What's your name? What are you doing here?"

"I'm...Sothe. I'm... I'm a thief, but... I didn't come onboard this ship to steal anything," the green-haired youth explained himself.

Ike just stared at him with his infamous scowl that I like to make fun of. Instead, I didn't mimic Ike. This situation was somewhat serious.

"Stop scowling at me like that! You're making me uncomfortable."

"It's not just you. Ike always looks like that," Nasir explained. I smirked at what the ship captain said. "Don't mind him; just keep talking."

"I'm...looking for someone. I heard this ship was sailing for Begnion, so I decided to climb aboard."

"This person you're after is in Begnion?"

"I don't know. The trail went cold in Toha, and... I couldn't think of anywhere else to go from there."

"Is it family," Ike asked.

"Huh?"

"The person you're looking for."

"Yeah. I mean, we're not related by blood or anything, but...we're definitely family."

Ike took a moment to think about the thief's situation. He motioned me to speak with him in private.

"Do you think we should help Sothe, Matt," Ike whispered to me.

"This kid's a thief, right? Maybe we can put him to good use. Heck, he might not even charge nearly as much as that Volke guy. I say we go ahead and keep the kid, as long as he doesn't stab me again," I said while pointing out my wrist covered up in bandage.

Ike nodded and made his decision. "All right. Nasir, my mercenary company will look after this boy. He won't be a burden to you or your crew."

"If that's what you want to do, it's fine with me," Nasir said.

"Are you sure," Sothe asked.

"You're going to be put to work. I hope you're prepared."

"Sure, no problem! I'll... I'll do whatever you need," Sothe exclaimed with a confident smile.

Ike nodded, and took Nasir with him to speak about whatever blue-haired people want to talk about. Sothe was about to go back down, but I grabbed his arm. He turned around and looked at the expression on my face.

"Err... No hard feelings about stabbing you. I just didn't want to get caught," the kid said in an apologetic tone.

"It's no big deal, little guy. If you've been stowing away here for the past month, you're pretty stealthy. You mind teaching me how to do that? It might help in the future," I suggested.

"Maybe….sir…" Sothe said.

"Don't call me sir, kid. I'm only eighteen. My name is Matt."

"Fine, Matt it is then. Nice to meet you."

I let out a "Mhmm," and ruffled his hair a bit. _Sweet kid, he just needs to keep his knives to himself and the enemy._

We parted ways, and I began to search for my source of revenge of Ike and Boyd.

One day later, morning

I was in the middle of sparring with Kieran, since he kept insisting on training me to be a Royal Knight. He ran at me with a practice axe in his grip. He swung downward, and I jumped to the side to dodge. I swung my sparring sword at his chest, which hit him and knocked him back a bit.

Kieran stepped back, panting a little bit. He approached again, and looked like he was about to swing his axe at my legs. I jumped in anticipation, but he faked me out. Instead, he swung at my chest, which made a solid hit. I fell onto my back, trying to catch my breath. _Note to self, axes are slow. But they hurt. Bad. _

The knight looked proud of himself as he swung his axe in an intimidating way. "Looks like I've won this round," he announced with a booming shout. He turned around and raised his fists, expecting a few people to cheer. I got back up on my feet as silent as I possibly could. I jumped up and kicked his back. He fell forward, not expecting that blow.

"What now," I asked with a grin.

Kieran got back up, and said, "You got me this time! But you wouldn't stand a chance against General Geoffrey, or any of the other experienced Royal Knights!"

"You're probably right."

"Well done! I'll accept defeat just this one time! If you'll excuse me, I'll be tending to my hor-" Kieran was interrupted by a scream. It sounded like it came from a girl, but it was actually Boyd. He ran up to the deck to meet me with an angry look.

"You put a spider on my cot," the fighter yelled, waving a fist at me.

"What's wrong, afraid of a little spider," I asked with a wink. A few of the mercenaries who were on the deck laughed.

"N-no! I-"

"One down. I'll get Ike later," I said more to myself than Boyd. The green-haired fighter just retreated back to his room with a frown.

"Well, that was quite a racket," Kieran said as he followed.

"Why are you so mean to each other," I heard Elincia ask from behind me. I turned around to see that she was still smiling due to what I was guilty of doing to Boyd.

I grabbed her hand and laughed. "Well, you saw what Boyd and Ike did to me yesterday," I explained myself.

"R-right."

We spend a short amount of time just talking and looking at our surroundings. All of a sudden, the ship crashed, which caused us to lose balance. Elincia landed right on top of me, and I hit my head on the deck. I rubbed the back of my head in slight pain, and opened my eyes to see her face just a few inches from mine. Elincia was blushing furiously and I was also blushing slightly at our embarrassing position.

I pulled myself up, along with her using my arms. I looked up and saw ravens approaching the ship at a high speed. _At least it's not Daeins this time. _

Ike rallied everyone, saying, "Form up, everyone! Get ready!"

I led Elincia down below decks, and ran back to the deck. I unsheathed my sword that was hanging on my back, and stood by, ready to fight.

A few of the mercenaries went down to protect the princess and the crew. I spotted a giant raven flying towards me, with talons at the ready. I crouched down to dodge, and the raven came right back at me. Before the raven laguz could hit me, Brom stepped out in front of me to absorb the hit.

Brom didn't seem to be bothered at all by the impact. He looked behind to give a friendly grin and a thumbs-up toward me. The raven was quickly stabbed from behind by Mia.

I saw that Ike had formed a group around Soren, Ilyana and Rolf so they wouldn't be harmed. Soren and Ilyana were both unleashing powerful wind spells that took care of several ravens. Rolf was quickly launching arrow after arrow, which had proven to be fatal.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ike was speaking to a cute wyvern rider. She looked Daein, but she apparently wanted to aid us in this fight. She showed herself as on our side by stabbing a nearby raven.

I ignored our new ally and turned my attention to a raven that was giving both Mia and Brom a problem. The raven hit Brom in his shoulder, and he kept trying to run through it with his lance. In a rush, I jumped on top of Brom and swung my sword, which had grazed the raven's wing. The laguz quickly retreated, only to be stabbed from behind by Marcia.

Not a second later, I felt something slash into my shoulder. I grit my teeth to avoid yelling out in pain. I saw the raven fly right above me, looking ready to dig into my flesh some more. I stood right where I was and didn't move an inch. When the raven was a few feet from me, I crouched from his attack. Without wasting a moment, I reached out my arm and wrapped my hand around the limb of the attacking raven. With all the strength I could muster, I pulled the raven down to me. I grabbed hold with my other arm, and slammed the raven on the deck of the ship. I placed one of my feet on one of the raven's wings, and stabbed the large raven with my sword.

I looked to my left and saw that there was one raven left, and judging by the size of it, he must've been the leader. He flew straight to Ike, talons at the ready. Before he could reach the boss, he was stricken by arrows along with wind magic. The leader fell over, and Ike quickly stabbed the laguz in the throat.

We all regrouped, but Ike was in bitter spirits. He looked frustrated because the ship was stuck. Ike quickly laid the plank of the ship down and walked out toward the land. He stepped off the plank, and as soon as he did that, several laguz in their human forms approached him.

"This is Goldoan territory. Outsiders are not permitted," one of the guards said in a threatening tone.

"No, wait, you don't understand! Our ship has run aground. There's nothing we can do! We're stuck here," Ike tried to explain himself.

"Then return to your ship. What happens to beorc is none of our affair."

"That's ridiculous! You're a complete-"

"Shut up before you say something you might regret, Ike," I said from behind. I stood on the plank of the deck, and stayed there, not wanting to come off as a troublemaker.

"You have been warned. You will not be warned a second time," the guard said. Each of the guards hit their fists together, and they transformed into red dragons. They were all massive, and looked like they wanted to kick our butts.

"I'm outta here," I calmly said in an attempt to mask my slight fear. I retreated back to the deck of the ship, not wanting to get in a fight we would definitely lose.

I hid myself against the side of the deck. I didn't want to see Ike get burnt to a crisp. After a few moments, I looked back up out of curiosity. Ike was speaking to a laguz who had looked like he was our age. Right beside him stood another dragon. He had red hair, and was even larger than the other guards.

"Ha! His arms are even bigger than yours," I heard Mia say from behind. "That's saying something!"

Boyd snuck over to my right. I don't know if he was trying to be as quiet or sneaky as Mia, but he failed miserably. "I bet I could take that guy at arm wrestling!"

"But you can't even take Matt!" Mia exclaimed.

"I bet I could!" Boyd said, boasting with confidence. "C'mon, Matt! Let's do th-"

Boyd was interrupted when the entire ship shook. I got up and looked over the edge of the ship. The three dragons were moving the ship from where we had gotten stuck. "Whoa!"

"With no effort at all, they're moving this ship. Even with your weight, Boyd," I exclaimed.

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean," Boyd asked with a frown.

"It's self-explanatory!" Mia said with a laugh.

I suddenly felt a cool feeling on my wound. The wound quickly closed up. I looked behind, to expect seeing either Rhys or Mist. Instead, it was Elincia who was holding a staff.

"I...I saw that you had ignored your wound. Rhys and Mist were busy healing others who have been wounded. I just wanted to be helpful…" the princess said with a small smile.

I wrapped her in a quick hug, and I heard her let out another "Eep."

When we pulled away, I saw Boyd and Mia were watching. They both let out "Awww how cute," Boyd trying to match Mia's feminine voice.

"You guys need to get a room, seriously!" Boyd said with a grin. Elincia blushed while I laughed.

"How about you and Mia get one?" I asked with a wink. Mia blushed while giggling. She lightly shoved Boyd. Boyd just shoved his hands into his pockets walking away, while whistling a tune. Mia followed.

"Thanks for healing me, hun." I said with a smile. She nodded in response, slowly wrapping her hand around mine.

In a few minutes, the dragons had finished moving the ship out what caught it in the first place. Ike continued to speak with the dark green haired laguz. After about an hour, the dragon laguz had brought us boxes and barrels full of fresh water and food. I looked at the other side of the ship to see that Ilyana was licking her lips, but Soren kept his arm in front of her so she wouldn't attack the guards. _I don't know who I should feel sorrier for, Ilyana for always being hungry or Soren for dealing with the starving mage. _

Elincia and I spotted Ike walking toward us with a wondering look on his face.

"My lord Ike, is something amiss?" Elincia asked with some concern.

"Yeah, Ike. You're looking a little more confused than your usual scowling." I said.

"M-Matt!" Elincia giggled and lightly shoved her elbow into my stomach.

"First, those ravens attack us, and then a band of Goldoan dragons rescues us. I can't understand how they are all considered laguz. Is that strange?" Ike asked.

"No, I see what you're saying..." Elincia started. "Just as there are both good and evil beorc, there must be good and evil laguz as well. But they are so distinct in appearance... It is tempting to assume each race is, as a whole, intrinsically good or evil."

Ike nodded and said, "Aye, that it is. The beast tribes of Gallia and the dragons of Goldoa seem so honorable...and the birds of Kilvas and Phoenicis seem so cruel. It seems so easy to reduce them all to good or evil."

"Well, I don't think Phoenicis is so cruel, Ike. They weren't the ones that attacked us. Heck, I bet they make Kilvas look way worse than they are." I added in.

"That's true." Ike said with an understanding nod.

"I'm sure it can't be as simple as that..." Elincia wondered aloud.

Ike then said, "Look at us beorc: Daeins are evil, and Crimeans are not. It's as simple as that. Well, wait... There were those prejudiced fools we met in port. They weren't all that honorable. Maybe you're right."

"I don't mean to sound so rude for correcting you, Ike." I started. "But I don't think that all Daeins are evil. I'm sure a number of them don't approve of this war. But they've probably been silenced by their corrupt king."

"Hmm…You're right."

"Much of what seems good and evil is simply a matter of perspective, Ike." Nasir said from behind. "Many conditions affect our judgment. Drawing a definitive line is nigh impossible. Matt seems to have grasped it."

"Nasir! Where have you been? You vanished without a trace." Ike said with curiosity.

"I am uncomfortable around dragons. I thought it would be better if I stayed below in my cabin. My apologies." Nasir said while putting a hand to his chin, and started to shuffle his feet a little.

"Now that you mention it, Soren seems to have disappeared as well. Have you seen him?"

"Soren looked a little sick when I saw him with Ilyana earlier." I said.

Nasir nodded and said, "Perhaps he's feeling nauseated. For one unaccustomed to sea travel, it's not uncommon."

"Right... I think I'll check up on him later." Ike concluded.

"The wind is picking up. I believe I will go and check on the condition of our sails." Nasir said while stepping back. "Keep yourselves warm up here. It's a chill wind that blows in these waters." At that, the captain of the ship left our presence.

"Princess Elincia, you should be returning to your cabin." Ike said. He eyed me which made me feel a little awkward.

"What about you, my lord Ike?" Elincia asked.

"I'll stay on deck a while longer. I have a lot to think about."

"I think I'll stay up here." I said. "Unless you wanna go down, Elincia."

"It's okay. I'll stay here with you, Matt." The Crimean princess said.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Ike said with a smirk and left. I saw that he went to the other side of the ship to speak with Titania.

Elincia and I stayed put for a short while, speaking about some things. Eventually, we felt a breeze that made it colder. Elincia slightly shivered. I wrapped my arm around her and brought her close to me.

"I...I…" she was unsure what to say and blushed.

"You looked cold! Was I wrong?" I asked with a wink.

"N-no….." After a few moments Elincia said, "You're warm."

"I guess I am."

As I said that, she wrapped her arm around me and softly leaned her head on my shoulder. We continued to stay on the deck for a long time, enjoying our time alone with each other.

**(A/N): **….Chapter 12! Yay you read it! Now review! Please? Haha :D

P.S. – Check out _**"Intertwining Fate" **_when you can! It's mine and **cazcappy's **new story. We only have one chapter up so far, but we'd really appreciate it if you'd take a look! ;)

'Til next time, fellas!


	13. Chapter 13: Abandon Ship or Abandon Hope

**(A/N): **Hey everyone. I've been dealing with some family issues, which might sound like an okay excuse for not updating as much as you and I both would like. Family comes first, 'nuff said.

Anyways, I love these nice people! :)

**Cazcappy (editor)**

**Crizix (editor in chief)**

**Charizardude**

**Shadowwing238**

**Lamiror**

**barefootbean**

**PINKDAIMOND4000**

**Meru-64**

**Shardheart**

**GamerKnight**

**Windraider**

**Chibi Duelist**

**nomey1**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**Kamai-Rui**

_**Chapter 13: Abandon Ship or Abandon All Hope**_

Early morning

**(Matt's POV)**

It's been several weeks since those raven pirates had attacked us, so that means we should reach Begnion soon. Unless we encounter more pirates. We haven't seen Daeins (excluding our new "ally," the red-haired girl, who has recently joined us) since Port Toha. It's not likely we'll see any of those guys anytime soon. At least I really hope so.

Anyways, I woke up early in the morning without Ike or Boyd giving me a problem. I rose out of my cot and saw that Boyd was still asleep. I made my way up to the deck of Nasir's ship. No one was out there save for the red-haired Daein soldier. She was tending to her wyvern. What really interested me was the color of the wyvern. Out of all the wyverns I've seen, this was the only one that was green. The others I've encountered were always black.

The red-haired wyvern rider didn't notice me, and her mount didn't seem to mind my presence. I tiptoed even closer to the wyvern, and held a hand out for it to sniff. The wyvern sniffed my hand for a second, and then snapped my hand in its mouth.

"Ouch! Oh, for the love of Ashera," I shouted. I shook my hand around, but my attempt to break free from the wyvern's bite was in vain.

This startled the red-haired wyvern rider. She looked at me and laughed. She encouraged her wyvern by saying, "Good boy," and also patting her mount on the head. "That's what you get for trying to get to my Beastie!"

"Please get this guy off of me," I yelled. "C'mon!"

"Oh, fine," the red-haired girl said after taking a moment to think. She spoke softly to her mount, "It's okay, he's no threat to you. You can let go."

The green wyvern let go upon hearing her request. I quickly backed up a few feet and looked at my hand. It was in pain, but nothing looked to be bleeding. My hand was soaked in saliva, however. "Ew," I said in disgust. I quickly wiped my hand on my pants. "You better keep a tight leash on this thing," I suggested with a slight frown.

"Why should I?" the wyvern rider asked in a threatening tone. "Hmm… What's your name, anyway? I haven't spoken to you yet."

"My name is Matt. Would you like to shake my slimy hand," I offered with some humor.

She seemed to ignore the offer of shaking my hand. "I'm Jill. I would say that it's nice to meet you, but I can't bring myself to undergo such formalities with those allied to Crimea. Besides, I can't trust anyone here aboard this ship. Especially the sub-humans," Jill said with some disgust in her tone.

I let a small frown form on my face when I heard those hateful words. _Sub-humans._ "Why are you even here, Jill? You don't like us, and I'm not exactly fond of you either."

"My reasons are my own, and I won't share them with the likes of you," Jill answered with a sneer. She had her chest puffed out and tried to look down on me though I'm around the same height as her.

"You know, if you wanna try to look more intimidating, the least you can do is wear armor that isn't so…pink," I suggested with a small snicker.

"Y-you shut it! Get out of my sight, you Crimean scum," Jill yelled at me. I expected her wyvern to snap at me again because of the way its master treated me. Instead, the wyvern looked away from me. The wyvern was just ignoring me.

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots," I started with a mocking tone. "See ya." I dismissed myself as I went back to the lower levels of the ship.

_That Jill girl needs to take five, seriously. _I shook my thoughts off, however, and went back to the room I was sharing with Boyd. From there, I planned on a way to get revenge on Ike for tossing me overboard that one day. I took a seat on my cot and gathered up some ideas.

_Hmmm…. I could use a fire tome on Ike. No, that would take too long to learn to cast. Maybe I could just shave his head. _I looked at my hand, and it was still a little slimy from that wyvern spit. While I was a little disgusted, I hatched an idea. _This should go well._

I quickly got back up and walked out of my room. I walked to the end of the hall, where the room Ike was staying in. I softly opened the door and took a quick look around the room. Ike was sound asleep, and his roommate Soren was nowhere to be found. _Perfect. _I dropped to the floor and crawled up to the edge of Ike's cot.

I slowly slid my slimy hand over Ike's face. I mentally counted to three and rubbed my hand on the unsuspecting swordsman. I kept my hand on Ike's face and proceeded to rub my hand all over his face.

I heard Ike sniff for a brief second, and that made me retreat as quickly as possible. I sprinted out of the room, and shut the door as quietly as possible. I ran back to my room. Before approaching the door of my room, I tripped. I landed face-first on the floor. _Well, that wasn't planned. _I groaned and stayed down for a moment.

I heard a few footsteps, and looked up. Standing right in front of me was Elincia. "M-Matt… Why are you laying here," the princess asked.

"I tripped," I simply said. I noticed Elincia let out a soft giggle and she reached out her hand to help me up. I grabbed her hand with my left, and she pulled me up. She must have smelled my hand, because she furrowed her brow.

"Something smells rather… unpleasant. Is that….. you," Elincia asked.

"It might be this," I answered while reaching out my right hand that was once covered in wyvern spit. Elincia smelled for less than a second, and then pulled her hands to her nose.

"Oh, goddess! Why does your hand smell so bad," the princess suddenly yelled out loud.

"You know that Daein soldier who recently joined us? Well, she decided to sic her wyvern on me," I lied.

"I-I don't believe that."

"I might have just twisted the truth a little. I had taken a slight interest in the wyvern, and wanted to see it up close. He bit my hand," I confessed.

Elincia nodded with a grin and said, "I see. Why don't you wash your hand?"

I let out a laugh. "Fine, fine. I'll go do that right n-"

"Why does my face smell so bad?" I heard Ike shout.

"I'm gonna go wash up, now. Be right back," I said with a smile. I took off running with a laugh. I ran to a room that had a few boxes and barrels. I opened one of the barrels and dipped a nearby cloth in the water. I scrubbed my hands until they were clean.

I walked out of the storage room, and spotted Ike walking up to the door of my room. I walked as silently as possible up to the deck of Nasir's ship.

Nasir walked over to me and asked, "Matt, could you please get Ike up here?"

I looked to the right and spotted a Pegasus knight several feet from Nasir's ship. The woman was on her mount and looked at me with some curiosity. I nodded to the ship captain and went back to the lower levels of the ship to find the blue-haired leader.

"I've got you now," Ike said as he grabbed me. "I know you made my face smell like that."

"Are we even now," I asked with some annoyance.

"Hmm… I guess so," Ike answered. He let me go.

I ran my hands to my pockets and said nonchalantly, "Someone is here to see you, Ike."

Ike nodded, and we went back to the deck of the ship. Mist and Titania were on the deck as well, but they were talking amongst themselves.

"Ike, there's someone here claiming to be an envoy from the theocracy of Begnion. She's been asking if the princess of Crimea is aboard... What do you want to do," Nasir asked.

"A Begnion envoy? How did she know about this ship," Ike asked with curiosity.

"Hmmm... Perhaps she had word from King Gallia... On the other hand, this is Begnion we're speaking of. I imagine it has spies in every corner of the continent. Perhaps one of those spies is the source of her information."

"So we shouldn't be surprised that she knows about Princess Elincia, right?"

Soren showed up and said, "No, but it's extremely unusual for Begnion to send an envoy to meet a princess whom they do not even acknowledge."

"What do you mean," Ike asked the mage.

"It is a complicated matter. You see, the envoy is essentially an extension of the empress herself. Both Crimea and Daein were once part of Begnion. Both nations have only recently splintered from the theocracy. I can't fathom why the empress would extend the courtesy of an envoy to a nation she must consider somewhat beneath her. She must be planning something," Soren explained.

I rolled my eyes at what Soren had said, but didn't speak up.

Nasir butted in. "'Beneath her'? That is somewhat harsh, don't you think?"

"Harsh, perhaps, but it's true. Clothing it in sweet words will not hide its bitterness, will it?"

"Soren, even I would question the tactfulness of your words," Ike said with a questionable look on his face.

"You're quite the sweetheart, eh Soren," I asked with sarcasm. I restrained myself from doing anything else. _I still don't know why I haven't ever hit this guy yet; he's terrible._

He ignored me and said, "I will try to be more diplomatic."

Elincia approached us. Apparently she had heard what Soren said. "Ike, Nasir. You've no need to scold Soren. His words are just that. They do me no harm."

_How in the world is Elincia standing Soren? She's a saint, for sure. She's certainly a saint for dealing with me, at least._

Nasir said with some concern, "I'm glad to hear that; Princess, but he should mind his manners."

Soren just stayed silent.

"Deciding how we ought to treat with this envoy is a more pressing issue. Princess, will you meet her and hear her message," Ike asked.

"I believe I must. We gain nothing by refusing to see her. Let us meet with the envoy."

With that, we made our way to the railing of the ship. Nasir nodded at the Pegasus knight, and she approached us. She dismounted and crossed her hands over her chest.

"Princess Elincia of Crimea, I presume..." the Pegasus knight said.

"Yes."

"It is an honor to meet you. My name is Tanith. I am deputy commanding officer of Begnion's holy guard."

"I must ask what would Begnion want of me that she would send her holy guard to greet me?"

"The apostle has learned of you, Princess Elincia, and she has come here to meet with you personally. The duty falls upon me to take you to her now."

"The apostle? Am I to meet- Surely the apostle has better things to do than..."

"Will you accompany me?"

"I suppose that I..."

Ike butted in. "We are the princess's escorts, and we will be coming with her. I hope you understand." He vouched for Soren and me.

Tanith nodded and said, "Of course."

Elincia looked at Ike and I. Ike nodded, and I just winked at her. She turned back to Tanith and said, "Then yes, I will go with you. Thank you."

All of a sudden, another Pegasus knight flew over to speak with Tanith in private. After a few minutes, the Pegasus under Tanith's command saluted and retreated.

Tanith looked back at us. "Your Highness, I must apologize, but an urgent matter has arisen, and I must attend to it immediately. I will return for you later. Await my return!" She quickly mounted and flew to Begnion's envoy.

"How exciting," I said out of the blue.

"What was that all about," Ike asked.

"Judging from her expression, I'd say something has happened to the person she's meant to be protecting," Titania said as she and Mist approached us.

"Say, do you think that ship over there is involved?" Mist asked while pointing to a ship that wasn't too far off. "The envoy is flying in that direction."

Ike realized what was wrong. "If so, then the Pegasus knight's fears have already been realized... They're under attack. It's the ravens they spoke of, isn't it?"

"Ike, why don't we go lend them a hand," Soren asked. _That was the first smart thing I've heard out of him today._

"Are you feeling all right, Soren? It's not like you to offer to help anyone," Ike asked with curiosity.

"It's a great opportunity to put the empress in our debt. We'd be fools to pass that up, wouldn't we?"

"I should have known you'd have an angle. What do you want to do, Titania?"

"I don't approve of Soren's motivations, but I agree, we should help," Titania answered. I nodded with a smirk.

"Well, then that's what we'll do. Will you be all right on your own, Princess," Ike asked Elincia.

"You're doing the right thing. I would not dream of stopping you. I know those pirates are no match for your strength. Give them... Give them a sound thrashing," Elincia exclaimed with a small smile. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Huh... You're starting to sound like one of us, aren't you? All right then, we'd better go!" Everyone except for me followed Ike. When the other mercenaries left us alone, I nonchalantly walked.

"Be careful, Matt. Though I've the utmost confidence in you, just stay alive," the princess said behind me.

I turned around, smiling to myself, as I knew she would say something to that effect. "How about a kiss for good luck," I asked with a wink.

Elincia blushed furiously at me, as expected. "I…"

"No worries, your royal cuteness. You don't have to do something you don't want to. I was kidding, anyway. Maybe," I wrapped the green-haired princess in a hug and sprinted to where the other mercenaries are.

I ran on top of the plank that traveled from Nasir's ship to Begnion's. The fight has already started, so I unsheathed my sword and killed an enemy archer in front of me that tried to hit Marcia, who was currently fighting a raven.

I approached a lancer who was fighting against a certain blue-armored knight…..Gatrie! The soldier was much faster on his feet than the blonde, but he couldn't do a thing to the tank named Gatrie. I rammed into the soldier with my shoulder, and he fell onto the deck. I dug my sword into his back.

"So… How've you been, Gatrie," I asked with a small smirk.

"Matt! C'mere, you," Gatrie wrapped me in a hug. "Glad to see you guys are here to help Astrid and me!"

"Gatrie…can't…breathe," I gathered out in a struggle for air. He quickly let me go. "We'll talk later. For now, there are some meanies to hurt!"

Gatrie nodded and approached another enemy soldier.

I heard a raven fall right behind me. I turned around and saw a dead raven with a lance sticking through its chest. Nephenee pulled out her lance. I nodded in thanks with a smile. Once we dealt with the soldiers that were aboard Begnion's ship, I decided to take the fight to the rest of the enemies. I ran to one of three planks that they had lain to attack the Begnions.

I ran right to an enemy myrmidon and swung my sword. The swordsman quickly parried my swing. I swung my foot at the myrmidon, and he grunted in pain as the blow connected. He swung his sword at me, which I ducked from. I got back on my feet and punched him in the face. I followed through with a horizontal swing of my sword, which sliced into his chest. He grunted in pain, and I shoved him out of the ship.

Then an enemy soldier ran up to me and tried to impale me with his lance. I swung my sword to parry, and we held our ground for a brief moment. All of a sudden, I felt an arrow hit my sword arm. Though the arrow didn't go through my arm, it disarmed me. I accidentally dropped my sword, and it fell into the ocean beneath the ship.

_Okay, I'm in trouble. It would be awesome if I kept more than just one sword on me. _The soldier kept swinging his lance, which I had struggled to dodge. From behind, I heard someone shout, "Duck!" I didn't hesitate to drop to the deck. I saw the soldier get killed by a hand axe that landed into his neck.

I turned around and saw Kieran. "You need to be prepared at all times, Matt! Didn't your parents ever tell you that? Whatever; take this," Kieran said and handed me an iron axe. "Now you can fight." Kieran rode away, and Mia ran to aid me in the fight.

I ran with Mia at my left, until we spotted a few soldiers. Two ran at me, while one other was engaging with Mia. The two soldiers both attempted a jab, which I jumped over. I brought the weight of the axe with me as I landed, and the axe embedded into one of the soldier's skulls. _I wasn't planning that, but neither was I planning to lose my sword._

The other soldier tried to hit my neck with his lance. I ducked, and used my arms to bring the axe upward to try to hit the soldier. I missed, but I followed up with a kick at the enemy's jaw. As my foot connected, the soldier fell on his back. I dug my axe into the soldier's stomach, ending his life. As I did that, I felt an arrow zip right by my head. I looked where the arrow came from: it was a red-haired sniper.

The sniper looked at me, not hesitating to nock another arrow. He launched an arrow, and I rolled out of the way. As I dodged the arrow, I ran toward the sniper, swinging my axe downward. The sniper sidestepped to dodge, and my axe dug into the deck of the ship. I tried to retrieve my axe, but it took some effort. As I pulled it out with my hands, I felt something wrap around my neck. I struggled to break free from the sniper's large bow, but I wasn't successful. As I was losing my breath, I swung my fist behind me, which collided into the man's eye.

The sniper let go of the bow to cover his eye. I took this to my advantage, as I freed myself from his grip. I took a few deep breaths, feeling a great relief being able to breathe again. _Oh air, I've missed you. _

I turned around and took another swing with my axe. The enemy quickly ducked out of my blow, and I felt an arrow dig into my leg, courtesy of the sniper. I fell back in pain. The red head grabbed an arrow out of his quiver, and he crouched down to try and dig into my heart. I grabbed the arrow, and wrestled with the man's grip. As he tried to stab me, his eyes rolled, and he fell over dead.

I got back to my feet to see who my savior was. It was Sothe, of all people. I looked at the dead sniper who had a knife in the back of his head. "You said you wanted to be stealthy, right? I don't think you can do that with an axe, you were just rushing," the green-haired youth said with a smirk. I looked around and saw that all of the ravens and other soldiers were decimated.

"Well, thanks for saving me, little guy," I said. I grunted in pain, and saw that an arrow was still lodged into my leg. "Okay, help me out here."

Sothe didn't hesitate to help me get off my butt. I was able to stand, but my wounded leg started to act up. The young thief let me lean on him for support, as I hopped with my unwounded leg to the nearest healer. We reached Nasir's ship, and Mist ran up to meet us.

"Are you alright, Matt," Mist asked with concern.

"Yeah," I started while gritting my teeth. "Now please heal me!"

I sat myself against the railing, and motioned for Sothe to remove the arrow. He softly grabbed the arrow, and I looked away. He counted to three, and yanked it out.

I groaned out in pain, and Mist raised her staff to heal my leg wound, as well as any other wounds I might have gotten. "Thanks," I said with a slight smirk. She nodded in return with a smile.

From the Begnion ship, we heard Ike call out to Mist. She quickly rushed over to her brother. I got up to test my leg that was just healed, and it was functioning well. Most of the mercenaries were back on Nasir's ship. I suppose we were going to Begnion as planned.

"Not wanting to sound so mean, but you suck at using axes," I heard Boyd say from behind.

I turned around and saw both Boyd and Kieran glaring at me. "While I don't approve of Boyd's language, I would have to agree, Matt," Kieran said. "You should be prepared at all times in battle! Just keeping one sword with you isn't going to cut it!"

Boyd nodded, agreeing with the axe knight. "Be sure to keep more than a sword on you, since you aren't so…. good with axes."

"I hear you guys. But how about you train me to use axes? That'd be sweet," I said with a grin.

"That's a great idea," Kieran started with a look of excitement. "Be ready at any time, future knight of Crimea!"

"Still tryin' to recruit me, huh?" I asked with a laugh.

"I'll be there to coach you, Matt! I'll whip you into shape," Boyd said while slapping my back.

Hours later, middle of the night

I felt myself being dragged off of my cot. I opened my eyes and groaned. Boyd just pulled me off. "It's time to get to work, boy!"

Boyd pushed me until we were on the deck of the ship. It was dark and quiet out, the only sound being the ocean waves slowly carrying the ship. On the middle of the deck was Kieran, holding two wooden axes. Kieran tossed one of his axes to me, which I caught with my hand.

"Begin," I heard Boyd instruct from behind. I turned around and saw Boyd swing a wooden axe at me. I ducked out of the way.

"You can't just simply rely on agility to dodge a hit! Use your head! And your axe," Kieran coached while I fought Boyd. I swung my axe using both hands, and Boyd parried quickly. He jumped back and took a short breath. He then sprinted towards me. As he swung vertically, I brought my axe to his.

We stayed with our axes against each other. We relied on our strength to get the upper hand. I slowly pulled my axe further down on his, lowering Boyd's grip. Boyd broke his stance, and swung his axe toward my stomach. I felt the weapon collide with my torso, and I groaned out of slight pain.

After what seemed like hours, Kieran and Boyd were finished training me for the night. I was exhausted and sweat was covering my body. The two axe-users were catching their breath; it didn't even look like they even broke a sweat.

"Well done so far, Matt," Kieran said with a smile. "Another few sparring lessons and you might be able to use an axe perhaps a quarter of how well I do!" _A quarter? This is ridiculous! _

"We're done beating you up tonight, but be ready for another beating soon," Boyd said with a laugh. The two went down to the lower levels of the ship, and I hung against the railing, feeling the soft breeze. A soothing feeling overcame me, and I sighed with some pleasure.

I heard someone approach me as I sighed out loud again. "I heard something going on up here. Is there something wrong, Matt," Elincia asked. She approached my side without hesitation.

"Nope! Boyd and Kieran were just training me to use axes," I answered with a smile. I wrapped my arm around her as I said that.

"I-I see…." Elincia said. There was a moment of silence between us, and I noticed that she was looking concerned.

"You okay, you royal cuteness? I'm not seeing a smile out of you," I asked with a wink.

"Matt, we've been fighting these Daeins, for so long. Each battle that goes by, the numbers and power grow even stronger while they hound us. I'm just scared that….if all of this is going to be all for naught. What if we fail to retake Crimea in the future? It's such a burden that I've been feeling weighing down on my shoulders. I…" I interrupted by kissing her on the cheek as a few tears was forming in her eyes.

"I can't stand seeing you so distraught, Elincia. I'm unsure if what I say will reassure you, but I promise that we'll retake Crimea. All those lives cut down by the Daeins…your mother and father, innocent civilians, fallen royal knights…. Their deaths were not in vain. Crimea will be yours to rule, I swear," I said with deep conviction.

She had either nothing else to say, or she was just stunned by me kissing her. I wrapped her in a hug and kept her in my arms. I felt a few tears fall on my chest, due to Elincia. After a few sobs and sniffs, she was silent. "I… can only hope you're right," she spoke up after a minute or two. She broke the embrace and then kissed my cheek. "Thank you so much, Matt."

"I'll always be here for ya, princess," I said in return. Elincia's face was still slightly red from the crying, but she looked into my eyes with a small smile forming on her face. "That's more like it. Love seeing that beautiful smile of yours."

**(A/N): **Huzzah. I don't think it's as good as how my previous one went, but I'm content with this chapter. Thanks for reading, guys! Reviews are very much appreciated, just sayin'. Love and blessings to you and your loved ones! …Haha, that made me sound like a rabbi or priest or something. Maybe even a follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Mkay, I'm getting way off-topic here. Adios.


	14. Chapter 14: Feral

**(A/N): **Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am back with yet another chapter. I guess I'll make this author's note _way_ longer than necessary. Why? Because I feel like it. ;)

I wanted to extend my extra special thanks to two specific reviewers: **Marius Sidorov **and **barefootbean**. Who knew that reviews could be criticizing and motivational at the same time? Well, I guess I wasn't aware until now. Whatever. If either of you are reading this, I appreciate what you guys said. :)

I also wanted to give a big shout-out to my good friend **GuyWithNoName** and his fic. Check it out if you're into FE 1, 3, or 11. (This would be my thanks in return, broseph!) :D

'Kay. I'll be thanking the others now. :P

**Cazcappy (partner in crime) **

**Crizix (my buddy ;D)**

**SunLord89**

**Charizardude **– Heroes are my favorite units in Fire Emblem, hands down. I guess it's safe to say my OC has promoted now. Haha xD

**Shadowwing238**

**Lamiror**

**PINKDIAMOND4000**

**Meru-64**

**Shardheart**

**GamerKnight**

**Windraider**

**Chibi Duelist**

**nomey1**

**XxSecretStoriesxX**

**Shadow Dragon**

**Kamai-Rui**

There's nothing left to say, so here we go.

XXXXXXXXXX

_**Chapter 14: Feral **_

After a few days travel, we all reached Begnion. The apostle, whom I have yet to meet, was so kind to offer us to stay in her home: the Mainal Cathedral, which was the tallest of the structures in the capital city of Sienne. We gladly accepted her offer, though I'm sure Ike was reluctant to accept staying in this massive temple, but it's not as if we had an option.

Princess Elincia was always busy speaking to the apostle; I can only assume it has to do with Crimea and Begnion's aid. I haven't been able to see the princess, but I completely understand that these issues need to be the number one priority of Elincia as well as the apostle.

We've been in Begnion now for five days. There really wasn't much to do around the Mainal Cathedral, save for sparring. I have already sparred with my axe trainers: Kieran and Boyd. Aside from them, I've also been sparring with Mia to keep my sword training strong. After a reckless session of sparring, I made my way from the training grounds of the soldiers to my room. On my way, I saw Gatrie, who was just staring at the handmaidens.

"Everyone in this palace is drop-dead gorgeous," I heard Gatrie say with a big smile etched along his face.

"What about that one girl who had hired you to protect her? What's her name…? Astrid, right?" I asked with a laugh.

"Astrid is mine; she just doesn't know it yet! In the meantime, I'm enjoying the view of all these lasses!" As the knight had said that, he motioned for me to look at one handmaiden in particular, who was busy with her daily routine of tending to the residing nobles. As she walked out of earshot, Gatrie asked, "What a cutie, right?"

"Sure," I started. "But there's only one girl I've been thinking about."

"Right! I heard about you and the princess, well done," Gatrie slapped my back as he congratulated me.

"Well done with what?" I asked. "We're not…..doing what your perverted mind is probably conceiving."

"Teehee! Sure, you guys aren't," Gatrie teased with a light snicker.

I decided to the change the subject. "Enough. So, what exactly did you and Shinon do when you left the mercenaries?"

"We went around looking for jobs. After being relatively unsuccessful, I heard about a noble lady from Begnion seeking a professional bodyguard." As Gatrie explained, he flexed his bicep as another handmaiden passed by. "Who else could have taken the job but yours truly?"

"Right," I said with a nod. "But what about Shinon?"

"Shinon had seen me off when I met with Lady Astrid in Begnion. I asked him what he was going to do. He said he'd much rather do the exact opposite of Ike, whatever that means."

_I just hope this doesn't mean he joined with Daein. How likely is that anyway?_ "Well, thanks for telling me, Gatrie. I was really curious," I said with a smile, masking my frustration.

"Anytime, Matt," Gatrie said. As I was about to dismiss myself, a Pegasus knight had walked up to us. She had light-teal hair, along with cerulean eyes. She was wearing white riding armor, and had a sword sheathed at her waist. _I saw her back on Nasir's ship the day we aided Begnion from those pirates; she must be part of the Holy Guard. _

"Excuse me," the woman said with some elegance. "You two are with Ike's mercenaries, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," I answered, trying to sound as polite as possible.

She smiled and said, "You're quite the polite one, for a mercenary." I smiled in return and shuffled my feet in anticipation of why she had approached us. I took a quick glance at Gatrie, as he was silently looking at the Pegasus knight in awe. _Please don't be eyeballing her, Gatrie. _"Anyways, I'm Sigrun, commander of the apostle's Holy Guard. The apostle has a task for Ike and his mercenaries. It would be a good idea to meet with your commander now."

"Thank you, Miss Sigrun. Come on Gatrie, we better move," I said, shoving the knight. Sigrun waved and left us alone.

"Matt, did you just see what I saw," Gatrie said in wonder. "She is absolutely stunning!"

"You're a hopeless cause, aren't you?" I asked with a sigh. I pushed him harder, and he finally moved along with me. "Let's go, we don't want to anger Ike with our late attendance. Soren, too."

XXXXXXXXXX

My fellow peddlers and I had reached a road that stretched across a relatively small town. We were smuggling a few sub-humans to an illegal trade. Some people…. involved in this trade are certainly interested in buying some sub-humans, whether they be cats, tigers, ravens, and more. It doesn't matter to me who buys what from us, as long as he's got the right amount of gold.

Unfortunately, our efforts lately were fruitless. We were able to capture a few tigers, cats, and ravens, but that's it. _Damn, if only we had a heron or two; those things are certainly worth a lot of gold. Of course, with the Serenes Forest burned down, we haven't found a heron in years._

We all had taken a break from our travels, and some of my "employees" had rested by a nearby lake. I had examined my most prized possession: a killer axe. It had cost me a pretty penny, but no one hired to take us peddlers out had beaten me while I had this precious weapon in my grasp.

As I had begun to rid my axe of any dirt, one of my lackeys had approached me. He nodded to me, and I returned the gesture. I wondered aloud, "A poor crop this time around. Cats, tigers, and a few crows... All we have are laborers. We're not going to get rich with this."

"Aw, and we worked hard to catch 'em! Is it as bad as all that?" one of my lads asked with some disappointment in his tone.

"I've been selling half-breeds for twenty-five years. The ones that fetch the highest price are the trophy herons. And if they're white-winged royals, the fanatics will empty their purses of every last coin."

"Well, if that's the case, why don't we hit Serenes Forest next time? There might be a few of 'em left," he said. I slapped my forehead with some frustration. _My lads are good bandits, every single one of them. But why do they have to be so damned stupid?_

I snapped back with a frown, "You've the brains of a dead wyvern! Why do you think herons are so expensive? It's because they're rare! It's been twenty years since that mob burned Serenes. The herons were all roasted like chickens! No matter how you look it, that was utter lunacy. All that gold, up in smoke."

"Oh... If they're so valuable, I'd like to see one with my own eyes. I'd catch it and put it in a cage..." my lackey muttered with a dreamily contented look on his ugly face.

"...Idiot..." I said to myself with a sigh.

"Think what you could buy with all that gold. A new axe... Oh, and some furry boots, too!" As my lad had just said that, I spotted a few figures walking through the dense fog. _More fighters? Shoot, this will slow down our process a little bit…_

"Shut up, fool! Stop your daydreaming, and look over there," I commanded, pointing out to the fighters. The leader was a blue-haired lad who looked in his teens. _What could the officials of Begnion be thinking, sending out mere kids to fight us? _

"Wh-what? Who are they?" my lad asked while my other bandits returned to my side.

"Bah! Look alive, lads! They're not common travelers," I yelled. "Quickly, take our cargo out of sight, and face them head-on!" _There's no way we're letting them take away what little gold we'll be making!_

XXXXXXXXXX

"Here they come. Titania, are we sure this is the right bunch?" Ike asked the Deputy Commander.

"This fog makes it hard to see, but their numbers and appearance match our intelligence... It must be them," the red-haired paladin confirmed.

"Well, they've certainly seen us. They're readying their weapons," Soren explained to Ike.

"Very well... Get ready to fight, everyone," Ike shouted in a commanding tone.

I prepared for battle, as Kieran had instructed me over the past training sessions. This time, I had a newly purchased steel blade sheathed over my back. I also had an iron axe, sheathed on the opposite side of my back. It was more weight than I was used to carrying on my back, but I still managed to move well.

We all split up into two groups. I was going to the northwestern part of this small town we had arrived in, along with Marcia, Mia, Oscar, Sothe, Rhys and Astrid. The rest would go with Ike and Soren to the north. Oscar and I took the front, as we were the best defenders of our group.

Sothe followed close behind me, as he had told me of thieves and their ability to see through more fog than the naked eye. The green-haired youth started the assault on the bandits with a knife he threw above my head. The knife apparently hit an enemy, and we heard a body crash onto the ground. _Sothe, you're amazing._

Out of the fog, a few fighters rushed toward us, axes in their tight grips. As one fighter engaged with Oscar, he swung and missed him. Oscar raised his lance and impaled him through the stomach. The other fighter ran towards me. He swung his axe, which I quickly ducked. Before I got back up on my feet, Mia jumped over me and stabbed the fighter.

We slowly took the advantage in the conflict, and we marched onto a short bridge that reached to a small patch of land with two small buildings. A knight with a lance rode towards me and attempted to run me through. As I brought up my sword to parry, Oscar downed the fighter with an arrow into the enemy's neck. _Okay, since when can Oscar use bows? _

With that knight down, another quickly replaced him. He had pink hair that made him look like a clown. He swung his sword at me, and I jumped out of his way. As I did that, Marcia flew her Pegasus in front of me. She immediately started speaking to the knight who had attempted to hit me. I ignored what was happening, as I engaged with an enemy myrmidon.

I rammed my shoulder into the enemy swordsman. He sidestepped and swung his sword, attempting to behead me. I ducked out of the way, tripped him by kicking one of his legs out from under him. As he fell over, I slammed my sword into his chest, effectively killing him as blood exploded from his body from the force of my blow.

As Mia and Sothe were warning the civilians who resided in the two houses of the fight, I made my way to another short bridge. It reached to the east, where Ike and the others were engaging other fighters. As they had taken a great majority of the enemies out, I heard someone (presumably the leader) yell out, "Release the feral ones!" _Feral?_

As I heard the leader shout, two tigers ran and attempted to rip apart some of the mercenaries. To my surprise, Mordecai and Lethe both pounced upon the two tigers in order to protect us. While few mercenaries took time to heal any of their wounds, I closely approached the fight that had ensued between the laguz. One of the tigers was about to tackle Lethe to the ground. I ran in front of the orange cat. I ducked down, and thrust my sword upwards.

I felt a huge body fall right on top of me, lifeless. I opened my eyes and saw the tiger I successfully killed. I was taken aback by the blood pouring onto my blade, and held my breath so I didn't smell the laguz blood that dripped from the body. "Okay, someone get this guy off of me?" I yelled out, still pinned down by the weight of the tiger. Ike, Boyd, and Gatrie quickly came to my aid, slowly picking up the tiger. As the corpse was slowly lifted off me, I got back on my feet and pulled my blade out of the tiger's chest.

I saw the other tiger killed due to a fire spell from Soren. As Ike, Boyd, and Gatrie lay the corpse of the first tiger down, I immediately noticed some striking features of the corpse. Unlike the Gallians I've encountered, this one looked unkempt. The fur was in tangles, and balding in some places, probably due to the way the bandits had mistreated them.

I furrowed my eyebrows in wonder of how the two tigers just recklessly attacked us like that. _That would explain why they were called "feral". _I looked behind me, and saw both Lethe and Mordecai change back to their human forms, not looking how they normally do. They had hints of terror on their faces. Mordecai's eyes were red, while Lethe was looking down to the ground, her fists clenched.

None of the other mercenaries paid attention to them, and with good reason: these two were clearly upset. They were forced to kill two laguz! I approached the two, as I wanted to serve as some sort of comfort. "Mordecai. Lethe," I muttered with a sigh.

Mordecai looked at me, while Lethe clearly ignored me. "They were brothers…. I can't believe we had to end their lives. This is greatly saddening to me," the gentle tiger said, wiping his eyes.

"This is…." Lethe struggled to say. She stopped, and shook her head furiously.

"This had to happen," I started. "They were feral, driven mad by something those peddlers did to them. If you two hadn't taken action, we probably would have been killed."

"Matt… you are right," Mordecai said with a nod. "But this doesn't wash away the blood that is on our hands now. We… killed our own brothers."

"There was nothing that could've been done about it, Mordecai. If you feel you have committed a great crime here, then I would remind you that you had saved our lives. The goddess would forgive you," I said, trying to comfort them as much as I possibly could.

"This…." Lethe said. "This… is why I hate humans. This is what they did to our ancestors hundreds of years before us. But… through my time here, I've learned that not all hu—I mean beorc, are not all bad. Just those wretches who continue to do harm such as this to our brethren. May they never know peace."

"Lethe…" Mordecai and I muttered at the same time. _Did we actually just cause her a change of heart? _

I quickly dismissed myself by saying, "I'll be right back."

I approached Ike, who was lifting up one of the large, heavy boxes the peddlers had. "Ike, there's something I wish to do before leaving this town." I requested to the young leader.

"What would that be?" Ike asked with curiosity.

"I… feel that we should give the two tigers that were slain a proper burial. For both Mordecai and Lethe," I stated.

"I understand. You may go ahead and do that, Matt. After the burial, we will leave this place," Ike said with utter respect and a nod.

XXXXXXXXXX

As Lethe and Mordecai bowed their heads in prayer, I dug up two large holes for the deceased ferals with a shovel. Ike and Boyd aided me, as well. After the holes were dug, the two laguz looked at me and Ike, as if they were expecting us to speak.

"Uhhhh…. You take this, Matt," Ike excused himself with a whisper, backing away. "I'm…. not good with speaking for the dead." _Thanks, Ike. I knew I could always count on you. _I sighed.

"While we had not known these two," I started. "They suffered a fate perhaps even worse than death, being driven mad. Not knowing what was happening, who had captured them, and not even knowing who they were themselves. May the goddess be with them in the hereafter."

As I finished the speech, Rhys took my place. He all led us in a prayer of deliverance, while Ike, Boyd, Gatrie and I lifted the tigers and gently placed them into their graves.

When all had finished, and we buried the ferals, we went on our way back to the apostle, with large crates in tow. Titania, Oscar, Kieran and the new knight we had recruited – Marcia's brother Makalov – offered to lighten the load on us on foot by each taking a crate on their mount.

XXXXXXXXXX

The way back to the capital was relatively quiet. While we were quiet in respect to Mordecai and Lethe, we went back to our usual selves thereafter. We returned to the Mainal Cathedral in Sienne with the cargo in hand.

Ike spoke quickly to both Tanith and Sigrun of our return, and I went to the room I was staying in. As I approached the door to my private room, I saw Elincia smiling in my direction. She walked towards me, and I met her with a hug.

"So…. we're back," I said with a grin.

"I'm terribly sorry I haven't been able to meet or spend time with you in the past few days, Matt. I've had many pressing issues to speak of with the apostle and the Senate," the princess apologetically said.

I let go of the embrace and grabbed one of her hands with mine. "I understand, Your Royal Cuteness. No need to feel bad about it!"

She lightly blushed and nodded. _I'll never get tired of her blushing face, haha._ "Well, I suppose I should speak to Ike and the others about what Begnion plans to do, according to the apostle."

"I'm hoping it's good news," I said with a wink. We then went on our way to speak to Ike.

XXXXXXXXXX

**(A/N): **Sad chapter is sad. We never really figured out how Lethe and Mordecai would have reacted to those two feral ones in this chapter in Path of Radiance. Hopefully I made it sound believable to you guys! Anyways, I did what I could to help with the family issues. It's been a little better now, so happy happy joy joy time. Anyone else thinking of Ren and Stimpy? No? Oh well.

But now I'm really burdened for the Japanese. I don't know exactly what to say about it, but I have been (and I will continue) praying for everyone affected by it. But yeah… it's terrible, ya know? And not only do those guys need prayer, everyone needs it. I hope I'm not the only one unceasingly praying for Haiti, and the country/countries hit by the Sumatran tsunami back in 2004. :(

Okay, I'm not here to preach. I'm very sorry if I just bashed my beliefs and burdens on your heads. Fanfiction isn't for this kind of stuff. So, I'll shut up now.

Feedback is welcome and appreciated, as always. I love you all; take care! :)


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